Wednesday: Retail Sales, Industrial Production, Homebuilder Survey, FOMC Minutes

Wednesday:
• At 7:00 AM ET, The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) will release the results for the mortgage purchase applications index.

• At 8:30 AM, Retail sales for January is scheduled to be released.  The consensus is for a 1.8% increase in retail sales. Retail sales ex-gasoline were down 2.0% in December.

• At 9:15 AM, The Fed will release Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization for January. The consensus is for a 0.4% increase in Industrial Production, and for Capacity Utilization to increase to 76.7%.

• At 10:00 AM, The February NAHB homebuilder survey. The consensus is for a reading of 82, down from 83. Any number above 50 indicates that more builders view sales conditions as good than poor.

• At 2:00 PM, FOMC Minutes, Meeting of Jan. 25-26

On COVID (focus on hospitalizations and deaths):

COVID Metrics
 
Now
Week
Ago
Goal

Percent fully Vaccinated
64.5%
—
≥70.0%1

Fully Vaccinated (millions)
214.1
—
≥2321

New Cases per Day3

146,921
244,558
≤5,0002

Hospitalized3

80.185
107,772
≤3,0002

Deaths per Day3

2,208
2,422
≤502

1 Minimum to achieve “herd immunity” (estimated between 70% and 85%).
2my goals to stop daily posts,
37-day average for Cases, Currently Hospitalized, and Deaths
🚩 Increasing 7-day average week-over-week for Cases, Hospitalized, and Deaths
✅ Goal met.

Click on graph for larger image.

This graph shows the daily (columns) and 7-day average (line) of positive tests reported.