LAST WEEK

News & Commentary Weekly Highlights:

• Market Watch: Business Investment Sinks for Seventh Month (Friday)
• Wall Street Journal: Greece Urged to Present Overhaul Plans (Friday)
• Market Watch: Want to Reduce Inequality? Boost Productivity (Tuesday)
• Forbes: Private Insurance Exchanges Thrive While Obamacare’s Falter (Monday)
• Washington Times: Hammering Global Growth With Faulty Monetary Policy (Monday)

 

Top Economic Indicator Highlights:

Durable Goods Orders (March, advance estimate)

• New Orders: 4.0%, 12-mo avg. monthly change: 0.4%, Year/Year Change: 0.7%
• New Orders (ex-transportation): -0.2%, 12-mo avg. monthly change: -0.2%, Year/Year change: -1.9%
• Noteworthy: Transportation orders jumped 13.5% this month after a 1.4% decline last month. Excluding transportation, virtually all orders were down except for computers and electronics, suggesting business equipment investment will be tepid in future quarters in addition to shipment declines over the past two months affecting 1^st quarter GDP estimates.
• Series Detail: Durable goods orders track new orders placed with domestic manufacturers for delivery of durable factory goods.

 

THIS WEEK

Upcoming Economic Reports & Releases:

Major Indicators

• S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index (9am, Tuesday)
• GDP (8:30am, Wednesday)
• Pending Home Sales Index (10am, Wednesday)
• Personal Income & Outlays (8:30am, Thursday)
• Motor Vehicle Sales (Friday)
• Institute for Supply Management (ISM) Manufacturing Index (10am, Friday)
• Construction Spending (10am, Friday)

 

Reports

• Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) Announcement (2pm, Wednesday)

 

Chart of the Week: