Tom Hanna's Lifestream

Where last week brought several positive surprises in housing and manufacturing pushing stocks up 6% for the week, this week is likely to bring a correction with several indicators that may show stabilization but are unlikely to show a rebound.
The big housing indicator this week is the Case-Shiller Housing Price Index. While sales stabilized some, that stabilization was largely a result of continued downtrend in prices, so the housing news this week will not be as good. Wednesday's mortgage applications report will be hard pressed to improve over last week, though lower mortgage rates and some delay by consumers in reacting to rate drops could keep this indicator positive. March motor vehicle sales are likely to show more of the same - sales led by innovative, foreign companies while the moribund Detroit industry waits for a government handout to do what incompetent management can't - produce positive cash flow. With the specter of bankruptcy making Big Three warranties worthless, smart consumers will have continued to steer clear of these companies products in March. The big news of the week will be Friday's employment situation report and every leading indicator so far points to more bad news this month. Watch the releases Wednesday and Thursday of the ADP Employment report, Challenger Job Cut Report and Monster Employment Index for a clue as to the size of the drop in the jobs report. [The full economic calendar will not be available this week, but will return next Sunday for the week of April 6 to 10.]

You're reading a post from Financial Options, hopefully in your feed reader and not on a scraper site. Click through for the original and more like it. Financial Roadmap: The Week Ahead March 30 to April 3, 2009