Devoted to understanding the basics and fundamentals of investing

Since this week is such a huge week for both economic data and earnings reports, I decided to split up the previews. First up let's take a look at the economic data that will be released this week.

Monday January 28th

• New Home Sales- What else can be said about the housing market? The only thing that this number is likely to tell us at this point is whether the housing market is more likely to linger around a bottom sometime soon, or if it will accelerate even further to the downside. The market is expecting 645,000 new homes.

Tuesday January 29th

• Durable Goods- Durable Goods are a good predictor of the future of manufacturing activity, and since manufacturing has been floundering for some time lately, participants are starving for a decent number to help stocks going forward.
• Consumer Confidence- Consumer confidence is expected to decline further in January as investors worry about the future of the economy. The market is looking for a reading of 87.0, compared to 88.6 last month.

Wednesday January 30th

• GDP- GDP figures for the 4th quarter are due out on Wednesday morning. These numbers are unlikely to effect the market in any significant way unless they are a huge surprise to either the downside or the upside. These figures matter less to the market because they are backward looking.
• FOMC Interest Rate Decision- Technically this is not a piece of economic data, but this is the big story of the week so it has to be included. The Fed cut by 75 basis points last week to help forestall economic recessionary pressures, but many believe much more is needed. It is likely we will see another cut, but I have to wonder if we will get as big of a cut as some are hoping for.

 Friday February 1st

• Nonfarm payrolls- This is the biggest piece of economic data for this week ahead. As I have stated many times, the economy simply cannot hold up with the jobs situation falling apart. The market is expecting 55,000 jobs to be created in January.

The data this week will be key as we look to figure out whether this economy is already in recession, near to a recession, or more on the gentle slowdown path.