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November 22, 2010 at 03:44 AM
In a Thanksgiving holiday-shortened week, some economic reports have been moved up on the schedule, but in addition to closely watching retail sales on Black Friday (and e-commerce sales, which already are showing healthy growth), the markets will digest reports on third-quarter GDP and a host of measures of housing’s health.
The Fed releases minutes of its meeting earlier this month that added QE2 to the economic lexicon, while the European drama continues with Ireland’s acceptance of a EU-IMF bailout over the weekend, ahead of Portgual’s attempt at budgetary austerity at week’s end.
The big news over the pre-Thanskgiving weekend was that Ireland had bowed to its fellow Europeans’ invitation to request (and accept) a bailout plan valued at some $110 billion; whether the move is enough to save the euro remains an open question (see an interview on the topic with James Dailey of TEAM Financial).
On Monday, Nov. 22, the Chicago Federal Reserve releases its national activity index for October, and while some shoppers are already hyperventilating over the bargains to be found on Black Friday, the Census Bureau has already released figures showing that e-commerce sales amounted to $41.5 billion in the third quarter, up 15% from the recession’s beginning in 2007, and up 4% from the second quarter of 2010.
On Tuesday, Nov. 23, the Financial Stability Oversight Council meets in Washington, following up on its debut meeting on Oct. 1. Economic reports scheduled include the first revision of third-quarter GDP; and existing home sales from the National Association of Realtors; The Fed releases minutes of its November FOMC meeting, at which the governors agreed to a second round of quantitative easing. One of the first entries in the fourth-quarter earnings season comes with a scheduled report from Eaton-Vance.
