Schedule for Week of September 19, 2021

The key reports this week are August Housing Starts, and New and Existing Home sales.

The FOMC meets this week, and no change to policy is expected.

----- Monday, September 20th -----
10:00 AM: The September NAHB homebuilder survey. The consensus is for a reading of  74, down from 75 in August. Any number above 50 indicates that more builders view sales conditions as good than poor.

----- Tuesday, September 21st -----
8:30 AM: Housing Starts for August.

This graph shows single and total housing starts since 1968.

The consensus is for 1.560 million SAAR, up from 1.534 million SAAR.

----- Wednesday, September 22nd -----
7:00 AM ET: The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) will release the results for the mortgage purchase applications index.

During the day: The AIA's Architecture Billings Index for August (a leading indicator for commercial real estate).

10:00 AM: Existing Home Sales for August from the National Association of Realtors (NAR). The consensus is for 5.81 million SAAR, down from 5.99 million in July.

The graph shows existing home sales from 1994 through the report last month.

Housing economist Tom Lawler expects the NAR to report 5.88 million SAAR.

2:00 PM: FOMC Meeting Announcement. No change to policy is expected at this meeting.

2:00 PM: FOMC Forecasts This will include the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) participants' projections of the appropriate target federal funds rate along with the quarterly economic projections.

2:30 PM: Fed Chair Jerome Powell holds a press briefing following the FOMC announcement.

----- Thursday, September 23rd -----
8:30 AM: The initial weekly unemployment claims report will be released.  The consensus is for 320 thousand initial claims, down from 332 thousand last week.

8:30 AM ET: Chicago Fed National Activity Index for August. This is a composite index of other data.

11:00 AM: the Kansas City Fed manufacturing survey for September.

12:00 PM: Q2 Flow of Funds Accounts of the United States from the Federal Reserve.

----- Friday, September 24th -----
10:00 AM: New Home Sales for August from the Census Bureau.

This graph shows New Home Sales since 1963. The dashed line is the sales rate for last month.

The consensus is for 714 thousand SAAR, up from 708 thousand in July.

10:00 AM: Opening Remarks, Fed Chair Jerome Powell, At Fed Listens: Perspectives on the Pandemic Recovery