Fed Announcement, Housing Data Due Next Week
Friday, March 16, 2007; Posted: 04:15 PM
(RTTNews) - Next week will see the release of several key economic reports. On Wednesday, the markets will see the release of the Fed monetary policy announcement. Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the data on housing starts will be released, while Friday will see existing home sales.
The key economic report being release next week is the announcement from the Federal Reserve on Wednesday, at the close of the two day meeting. The Federal Open Market Committee, consisting of the seven Governors of the Federal Reserve Board and five Federal Reserve Bank presidents, meets eight times a year and will determine the monetary policy for the near future. The markets will be watching the Fed announcement closely and economists are predicting that the Fed will leave rates the same. Going into the meeting, most economic data points to an economic slowdown, which could cause the Fed to cut interest rates. However, higher PPI data released Thursday has raised fears of rising inflation.
Tuesday will see the release of housing starts for February. The report measures the construction of new single family homes. With the recent weakness in the housing sector, investors will be watching this number closely. As they will be watching Friday's release of existing home sales, which gives data on how many already-built homes are sold during the month of February. Friday's data gives more of an indication of economic momentum, which will give investors more idea on the state of the economy since the meltdown of the sub-prime market.
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