TheGrio and CNBC team up to deliver a weekly report of money matters and market updates for our community.
CNBC’s Shartia Brantley reports:
Last week investors had to digest quite a bit of economic news. The Federal Reserve kept its key funds rate steady, which holds mortgage and student loan interest rates unchanged. Their report on the economic recovery predicts a more moderate pace.
New claims for jobless benefits rose unexpectedly last month to the highest level in nearly six months. Also, the White House announced a $3 billion aid program to help unemployed homeowners with their mortgage payments.
This week investors await more second-quarter earnings reports and data on two leading economic indicators.
First, we’ll gain insight on the consumer with quarterly reports from Dow components Home Depot, Walmart and “Hewlett-Packard (HP).”:http://www.hp.com Reports are also due from retailers the Gap, the Limited family of brands, which includes Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works, and TJX Companies, parent company of T.J. Maxx and Marshalls.
Two reads on the housing market are slated for release, starting with the August 2010 Housing Market Index (HMI) from the “National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).”:http://www.nahb.org The index surveys home builder sentiment on leading trends in the home construction market. In July the index dropped 2 points to a 14 point reading as builders predicted that broader concerns about the economy would scare off potential homebuyers.
On Tuesday, we’ll also get the July Housing Starts report from the Census Bureau. In June housing starts fell 5 percent to their lowest annual rate in 8 months.
We’ll gain insight on the projected state of the economy with the Conference Board’s July Leading Economic Indicators report (LEI), which predicts economic trends based on activity such as new claims for jobless benefits, manufacturing and stock prices. In June the leading indicators dipped slightly by 0.2 percent, suggesting that the economy may be sluggish over the next six months.
