Economic calendar: housing data - the key report of the day 📃

After an intense day yesterday, investors will receive another round of information from the U.S. economy today. The key report will be the release of data on housing starts and building permits.

The U.S. housing market has been cooling for about three years, since reaching its peak in 2021. This is, on the one hand, good, as the housing market is correlated with housing prices. A decline in prices indicates a slowing inflationary pressure in the currently largest contribution to the overall CPI inflation, which is CPI shelter. On the other hand, the declines are not severe, which does not raise concerns among investors about a sudden slowdown in the market. The current number of new homes stands at around 1.35 million, which is still significantly higher than the 0.65-0.70 million seen during the bottom of the 2009 crisis.

Other macro report worth watching is the University of Michigan report on inflation expectations and consumer sentiment. Expectations indicate a slight rebound compared to the July reading. Today's report will be preliminary, with the final data to be released at the end of the month.

Detailed schedule for the day:

01:15 PM BST, Canada - Housing Starts for July:

• forecast 246.0K; previous 241.7K;

01:30 PM BST, United States - Housing Starts for July:

• forecast 1.340M; previous 1.353M;

01:30 PM BST, United States - Building Permits for July:

• forecast 1.430M; previous 1.454M;

03:00 PM BST, United States - University of Michigan inflation report for August:

• Michigan Current Conditions: previous 62.7;
• Michigan Consumer Expectations: previous 68.8;
• Michigan Consumer Sentiment: forecast 66.7; previous 66.4;
• Michigan 1-Year Inflation Expectations: previous 2.9%;
• Michigan 5-Year Inflation Expectations: previous 3.0%;