The Economic Data Week Ahead for Wall Street

Speculation may have to finally take a back seat this week to substance as the glee from the latest rounds of monetary easing across the globe looks to be wearing thin. Earnings will be moving to the forefront of market sentiment after Alcoa (AA) kicked-off the earnings season last week. Traders will get a heavy dose of financial reports with more than 40 percent of the Dow components and 79 of the S&P 500 members releasing earnings from the latest quarter and guidance going forward.

Wall Street will also get a barrage of economic data from Washington and elsewhere in the country that will shed further light on the health of our country. Potentially market moving data will come from many key sectors and will include:

Monday:

Retail Sales for September at 8:30 AM ET – In August, retail sales rose 0.9 percent, following a 0.6 percent climb in July.

Empire State Manufacturing Survey for October at 8:30 AM ET – In September, the ESMS dropped to -10.41, following a -5.85 reading in August. Readings below 0 indicating contraction in the manufacturing sector as gauged by 175 manufacturing companies in New York.

Tuesday:

Consumer Price Index for September at 8:30 AM ET – In August, the CPI rose 0.6 percent, following a flat month in July. Monthly changes in the CPI denote the rate of inflation.

Industrial Production for September at 9:15 AM ET – In August, IP slipped lower by 1.2 percent, following a rise of 0.5 percent climb in July. It is notable that the drop in August was influenced by oil plant shutdowns because of Hurricane Isaac heading inland.

Wednesday:

Housing Starts for September at 8:30 AM ET – In August, housing starts rose 2.3 percent to a pace of 750,000 units after a dip of 2.8 percent in July, according to the Commerce Department. On a yearly basis, the figure for August was a 29 percent improvement over the rate during the same period of 2011.

EIA Petroleum Status for the week ended October 13 at 10:30 AM ET – While this weekly report of oil inventories from the Energy Information Administration is often times not considered truly market moving, it has been particularly in focus lately as debates over supply versus demand have been hot button given the geopolitical turmoil in the Middle East.

Thursday:

Initial Jobless Claims for the week ended October 13 at 8:30 AM ET – For the week ended October 6, the Labor Department said that first time filings for unemployment benefits fell to 339,000 applicants, representing a drop of 30,000 and the lowest level since February 2008. The report was plagued with controversy as the largest portion of the drop was attributed to one state (California). If there was an error in reporting, it is expected to be flushed-out this week.

Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Survey for October at 10:00 AM ET – In September, the outlook of general business conditions in the mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. remained in negative territory although it improved to -1.9 from -7.1 in August. A reading below zero indicates contraction in manufacturing within the region. The index has not been above zero since April.

Friday:

Existing Home Sales for September at 10:00 AM ET – In August, the National Association of Realtors reported that sales of existing homes surged by 7.8 percent from July to an annual unit rate of 4.82 million, representing the second straight month of increases and the highest level since May of 2010. Compared to August 2011, the figure was up by 9 percent. The national median existing home price was $187,400 for the month, up 9.5 percent from the year prior August.