What to Expect in the Week Ahead (Fed Speeches; TSLA, NFLX, GS and BAC Earnings)

It will be a busy week of first-quarter earnings reports and with several of the latest indicators on the U.S. economy and housing market on deck.

Economic-data highlights will include the Conference Board's Leading Economic Index for March on Thursday and both of S&P Global's Manufacturing and Services Purchasing Managers' Indexes for April on Friday.

There will also be several indicators of U.S. housing market activity released this week. Those include the National Association of Home Builders' Housing Market Index for April on Monday, the Census Bureau's new residential construction statistics for March on Tuesday, and the National Association of Realtors' existing-home sales for March on Thursday.

The National Association of Home Builders releases its Housing Market Index for April. Consensus estimate is for a 44 reading, matching the March data. While home builders still have a dour outlook for the housing market, there has been a marked improvement from late last year. Thirty-year fixed-mortgage rates have declined by more than eight-tenths of a percentage point from October's two-decade high of 7.08%, per Freddie Mac data.

The Census Bureau reports new residential construction statistics for March. Economists forecast a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.41 million privately owned housing starts, 40,000 fewer than in February.

The Conference Board releases its Leading Economic Index for March. The index is expected to decrease 0.4% month over month, which would mark 12 consecutive monthly declines. The Conference Board currently forecasts that "rising interest rates paired with declining consumer spending will most likely push the U.S. economy into recession in the near term."

The National Association of Realtors reports existing-home sales for March. The consensus call is for a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.5 million homes sold, slightly lower than previously. In February, existing-home sales increased 14.5% month over month, the largest jump since July 2020, snapping a 12-month slide.

S&P Global releases both its Manufacturing and Services Purchasing Managers’ Indexes for April. The indexes are expected to show readings of 49.4 and 53.2, respectively. This compares with 49.2 and 52.6 in March.