Macro Calendar: US housing market in the spotlight of investors (18.08.2026)

The start of Tuesday's session is marked by rising oil prices, a still weaker dollar, and waiting for further data from the United States. Today's calendar is not very extensive but contains several important publications from the USA regarding the housing market and international trade prices. After the last series of weaker data, today's reports on the housing market will show whether the situation has also deteriorated in this market, taking into account elevated inflation and concerns about hikes.

Key publications from the Asian session 🌏

• Westpac consumer confidence index for Australia was 6.0%, which means a strong rebound compared to the previous period.
• Representatives of the Reserve Bank of Australia maintained a hawkish rhetoric, giving short-term support to the local currency before the opening of European markets.
• Asian markets felt increased supply pressure as a delayed reaction to Monday's disappointing data on Japan's GDP growth dynamics.

Macroeconomic calendar 📊

• 08:00 UK - Unemployment rate. Consensus: 4.8%. Previous reading: 4.9%.
• 11:00 Germany - ZEW index for August. Consensus: 30; Previous reading: 26.3
• 14:30 USA - Building permits. Consensus: 1.37M. Previous reading: 1.37M.
• 14:30 USA - Housing starts. Consensus: 1.35M. Previous reading: 1.42M.
• 14:30 USA - Import price index. Consensus: 0.1%. Previous reading: 0.3%.
• 15:00 USA - Pending home sales index. Consensus: 0.1%. Previous reading: -5.4%.

Key financial results of companies from Wall Street and Europe 💼:

• The Home Depot (pre-market)
• Amer Sports (pre-market)
• Keysight Technologies (post-market)
• Toll Brothers (post-market)

Markets worth paying attention to today 📈:

• Australian Dollar (AUDUSD). The improvement in consumer confidence in Australia provides support for the currency, but a potential strengthening of the US dollar in the afternoon may create significant supply pressure on this pair. It is worth paying attention to mixed global signals: rising copper prices and weakness in China.
• US Dollar Index (DXY). Upcoming readings from the housing sector will be thoroughly analyzed in terms of their potential impact on future Federal Reserve decisions, which should generate local volatility impulses. The economic symposium in Jackson Hole is also approaching.
• Construction and development sector. The cumulative publication of quarterly results of industry giants, such as The Home Depot or Toll Brothers, combined with hard macro data on building permits, may lead to very strong moves in the stocks of these companies after the bell in New York.