GDP Will Be the Highlight This Week

We’re heading into the end of August and many investment professionals will be watching markets from the beach. We’ll get a few real estate–related numbers this week with new home sales, existing home sales, and the FHFA House Price Index. The second revision to Q2 GDP will be out on Friday. Finally, we’ll get numbers from luxury builder Toll Brothers.

Below is a summary of this week’s economic data.

Monday, August 22:

• Chicago Fed National Activity Index

Tuesday, August 23:

• new home sales
• Richmond Fed

Wednesday, August 24:

• Mortgage Bankers Association mortgage applications
• FHFA House Price Index
• existing home sales

Thursday, August 25:

• initial jobless claims
• Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index
• durable goods
• Kansas City Fed

Friday, August 26:

• GDP
• consumer sentiment

Tuesday, August 23

• Toll Brothers (TOL)

REITs such as Annaly Capital Management (NLY) and American Capital Agency (AGNC) will likely focus on data that will move the bond market. Nothing this week should really move the market, unless the GDP numbers are way outside of expectations. Investors who want to bet on interest rates can look at the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT).

Homebuilders such as PulteGroup (PHM) and CalAtlantic Group (CAA) will pay the most attention to the data on new home sales, existing home sales, and the numbers from Toll Brothers. Investors can get access to the homebuilding sector through the SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (XHB).

In the next part of this series, we’ll discuss what happened last week.