Next Week: consumer confidence, new home sales, inflation update

A look at some of the key business events and economic indicators upcoming next week.

Confidence check

The Conference Board issues its latest consumer confidence report on Tuesday.

Analysts expect consumer confidence continued slipping in February. The consumer confidence index measures Americans’ assessment of current economic conditions and their outlook for the next six months. Confidence has remained relatively strong, along with consumer spending, despite pressure from inflation.

Consumer confidence, by month:

Sept. 99.2

Oct. 109.6

Nov. 112.8

Dec. 109.5

Jan. 104.1

Feb. (est.): 102.6

Source: FactSet.

Housing barometer

The Commerce Department delivers its monthly snapshot of new U.S. home sales on Wednesday.

Economists project that sales slowed slightly in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 680,000 homes. The sales pace rose in December. The broader housing market remains tight as consumers face historically high mortgage rates along with strong demand and not enough supply of newly-built and existing homes.

New home sales, seasonally adjusted annual rate, by month:

Aug. 691,000

Sept. 726,000

Oct. 615,000

Nov. 674,000

Dec. 698,000

Jan. (est.) 680,000

Source: FactSet.

Eye on inflation

The Commerce Department releases closely watched consumer inflation data on Friday.

Economists expect the report to show that inflation edged lower in January. The rate had cooled to 2.1% as of September, which is just above the Federal Reserve’s preferred target of 2%, but has been mostly rising since then.

PCE Deflator, annual percent change, seasonally adjusted:

Aug. 2.3

Sept. 2.1

Oct. 2.3

Nov. 2.5

Dec. 2.6

Jan. (est.) 2.5

Source: FactSet.

The Associated Press