Economy Week Ahead: Fed minutes, existing home sales, purchasing managers indexes
August 18 2019 - 5:31PM
Dow Jones News
By WSJ Staff
The week ahead is light on data and heavy on monetary policy,
with minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest meeting due on
Wednesday and the Fed's annual policy symposium at Jackson Hole
scheduled for Thursday through Saturday.
Monday: The Eurozone releases its consumer-price index for July,
providing the latest insight into inflation on the Continent as
policy makers worry that the global economy is slowing.
Wednesday: The U.S. National Association of Realtors releases
July existing home sales. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street
Journal expect sales to have risen 2.3% from June to 5.39 million
units, as low mortgage rates help to stimulate demand despite the
high housing costs that have weighed on the sector throughout this
expansion.
Also on Wednesday, the Federal Reserve publishes minutes from
its July 30-31 policy meeting, when officials voted to lower
interest rates for the first time since 2008. Investors will pore
over the minutes for signs of disagreement on the Federal Open
Market Committee, as well as clues to what the central bank may do
next. The decision to lower rates garnered two dissenting votes
from policy makers who wanted to keep them on hold.
Thursday: IHS Markit releases its monthly purchasing managers
indexes for major economies around the world. Economists will pay
particularly close attention to the U.S. figure on manufacturing as
they look for signs of further weakening in the U.S. factory sector
amid an intensifying trade dispute with China and sluggish global
economy. Official data last week showed manufacturing, and broader
industrial production, contracted in July. Economists expect
Markit's manufacturing PMI for August to fall to 50.0, the
threshold between expansion and contraction, from 50.4 in July. The
services PMI, which has been sturdier in recent months, is seen
falling to 52.7 in August from 53.0 in July.
Friday: Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will deliver a closely
watched speech at 10 a.m. ET, his first since the July rate cut, at
the central bank's annual get-together in Wyoming's Grand Teton
National Park. The official topic of this year's meeting is
"challenges for monetary policy." But investors will be eager to
hear how the Fed may respond to what they see as growing risks to
the economic outlook presented by the trade war, Brexit and other
factors. Bond markets are currently pricing in a 100% chance of
another rate cut at the Fed's next policy meeting in
mid-September.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 18, 2019 17:16 ET (21:16 GMT)
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