Housing market data will feature prominently in the U.S. this week with new releases due out on housing starts & building permits, mortgage applications, and existing home sales. The consensus forecasts are for slowdowns in all the April housing market indicators.
Other U.S. releases out this week will cover initial unemployment claims (consensus: 2.4 million), the Philadelphia Fed Index (consensus: -43), and the Conference Board’s leading economic index (consensus: -5.3%), On the monetary policy front, Fed Chair Jay Powell testifies before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday and the Fed and European Central are subsequently scheduled to release the minutes of their last meetings. Overseas, the National People’s Congress convenes in Beijing on Friday after several delays, with the Financial Times reporting “President Xi Jinping’s politburo has already announced an array of priorities for protection including employment and supply chains. Analysts increasingly expect at least some type of large-scale support program after the People’s Bank of China did not repeat its time-honored vow to refrain from ‘flood-like’ stimulus to support growth in its monetary policy statement last week.” Of course, the week’s big event is ISRI’s Virtual Copper Spotlight to be held on May 20 at 1 p.m. Eastern when moderator Christine Gneiding from Intrametco will be joined by Edward Meir from ED&F Man Capital and Uwe Schmidt from Montanwerke Brixlegg for what should be a fascinating discussion about copper. We hope you can join us and hope you have a great week!
