Reports to Watch

The week is full of key economic data from a variety of sectors.

• Economic data is limited this week with Existing Home Sales on Wednesday followed by New Home Sales on Friday.
• As usual, weekly Initial Jobless Claims will be released on Thursday.

X Factor

With the last two weeks of June in front of us, folks are weighing in on how second quarter 2017 might shake out economically.

After weak economic growth of 1.2 percent in the first quarter of the year, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is now expected to rise by 3.2 percent in the second quarter, as reported by the Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow forecast recently.

GDP is a key metric of the pace of economic activity. In order for GDP to increase, job growth and the feeling that one’s job is secure must continue. This, in turn, increases consumer spending, which makes up two thirds of the nation’s economic activity.

Consumer spending is what fuels the economy and is the single most important variable behind economic growth. To put it another way, if consumers stopped spending, businesses would eventually go belly up and would be forced to lay off workers, thus stunting economic expansion.

The three other components of GDP are business investments, government spending and net exports of goods and services. We’ll have to wait for late July to get the initial estimates on Q2 GDP, but the forecast is brighter than what we’ve seen.

For now, the week is light on economic data, but news headlines and geopolitical events could fill in to provide the peaks and valleys in markets. As always, stay tuned to the Mortgage Market Guide for guidance on the ever-changing financial landscape.

For more detailed information and insight, view the Economic Calendar, the Daily Market Update and Guidance, and our exclusive Market News. And don’t forget, you can easily download the Economic Calendar to your Outlook Calendar to make sure you don’t miss important economic releases. Just click here to read instructions for downloading to Outlook.