Five Upcoming Business Milestones to Watch - Part II
Earlier this week in part one of this blog, we urged our participants and readers to continue developing business acumen skills by applying new skills and keeping up-to-date on global business and economic challenges and opportunities that we all face.
We covered the issues surrounding corporate earnings in that first part. Here are the rest of the points (2-5):
2. US Manufacturing Reports
With the slowdown of growth in Asia and South America (specifically Brazil) the strength of the dollar continues to rise. One of the most important technical indicators of the strength of the US economy will be the Q3 manufacturing reports. An organization called Markit will release their latest Purchasing Managers Index report which looks at production output, new orders, and prices this week. Early indications are that US manufacturing is going to be soft.
3. Federal Reserve Policy Meetings
The next US Federal Reserve meetings are at the end of October. We were just given highlights of the September meetings when the Federal Reserve decided to keep the interest rates near zero. What’s significant about the upcoming October meetings is that the week before the meetings, most of the policy makers are asked not to make any comments on the economy for fear of triggering speculation. This “dark” week is always interesting because there is no Federal Reserve “security blanket” to calm jittery investors. My view is that there are going to be a lot of nervous investors this week.
4. Existing Homes Sales Data
Existing home sales dropped 4.8% in August 2015. The September report comes out this week and the data will be watched very closely. Prices of existing homes going to market have increased significantly in many of the top 30 US markets so it will be interesting to see if new homes sales go up, indicating that August was just an anomaly. If new home sales go down, however, that is going to illustrate even further deterioration of the economy and will have a significant impact on jobs and spending.
5. New Home Sales Data
Development and construction of new homes has been a bright spot for the US economy for much of the year. However, developers have been indicating that a lack of qualified workers has put a damper on the ability to scale and grow. The US Commerce Department will release new home growth data this week so it will be interesting to see if this one shining star of the economy can continue and support the economy for a little longer. If new home construction is up, that is the strongest indication yet that the US economy is at least stable and becoming less dependent on growth from outside which is the continuation of a significant shift.
