This will be a big week for the housing market. New reports due out on Tuesday and Wednesday will reveal whether housing demand—and prices—continue to slide in the face of rising mortgage interest rates. Last week, the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage climbed above 6.5 percent for the first time in four years.
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Monday, April 24:
EARNINGS TO WATCH: American Express, Ameritrade, Caterpillar, Kimberly Clark, Netflix, Sun Microsystems, Xerox, and Yum Brands.
Tuesday, April 25:
CONSUMER CONFIDENCE: The Conference Board will release the latest results of its closely followed survey of household sentiment. With gasoline prices and interest rates rising, don't be surprised if confidence has declined.
EXISTING-HOME SALES: The median price of existing homes has fallen for four consecutive months—from $218,000 in October to $209,000 in February. The National Association of Realtors will reveal whether prices fell for a fifth straight month in March.
EARNINGS TO WATCH: Amazon.com, Ameriprise Financial, AT&T, Corning, DuPont, JetBlue Airways, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, McGraw Hill, Whirlpool, and Wrigley.
Wednesday, April 26:
NEW-HOME SALES: This morning, the Commerce Department will report whether demand for newly constructed homes has continued to wane.
BEIGE BOOK: This Federal Reserve will release its March Beige Book report, which provides anecdotal evidence of the economy's health in each of the Fed's 12 districts.
EARNINGS TO WATCH: Amerada Hess, Anheuser-Busch, Avaya, Baker Hughes, Boeing, Colgate-Palmolive, ConocoPhillips, Monster Worldwide, Office Depot, Sprint Nextel, T. Rowe Price, and Weyerhaeuser.
GDP: The Bureau of Economic Analysis will offer its preliminary estimate of first-quarter growth this week. Many economists believe that gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic growth, increased 5 percent in the first quarter after a rather sluggish fourth quarter of 2005. The real question, however, will be if this economic growth is fueling inflation.
CONSUMER SENTIMENT: This morning, the University of Michigan will release the latest results of its consumer confidence index.
EARNINGS TO WATCH: Automatic Data Processing, Avon Products, Chevron, Fortune Brands, and Overstock.com.
