Consumer Spending Rises

This has been a rather action packed week. We got word from the FED on interest rates, we had Ben Bernanke grilled by law makers, and we got some rather interesting economic data released.

Today in fact we got more information pointing to the economic rebound most economists were hoping for. Consumer spending increased 0.3% for the month of May, after a revised, flat April. Since Consumer spending makes up about 70% of the economy, this is certainly a sign that we are likely pulling out of the recession.

Anyway, here is the list of economic data we will get next week. It should be a pretty telling week, as a lot of data will be out at the end of this month.

- Jun 30 9:00 AM Consumer Confidence Jun
- Jun 30 9:00 AM S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index Apr
- Jun 30 9:00 AM S&P/CaseShiller Home Price Index Apr
- Jun 30 9:45 AM Chicago PMI Jun
- Jul 1 8:15 AM ADP Employment Change Jun
- Jul 1 10:00 AM Construction Spending May
- Jul 1 10:00 AM ISM Index Jun
- Jul 1 10:00 AM Pending Home Sales May
- Jul 1 10:30 AM Crude Inventories 06/26
- Jul 1 2:00 PM Auto Sales Jun
- Jul 1 2:00 PM Truck Sales Jun
- Jul 2 8:30 AM Average Workweek Jun
- Jul 2 8:30 AM Hourly Earnings Jun
- Jul 2 8:30 AM Initial Claims 06/27
- Jul 2 8:30 AM Nonfarm Payrolls Jun
- Jul 2 8:30 AM Unemployment Rate Jun
- Jul 2 8:30 AM Unemployment Rate Jun
- Jul 2 8:30 AM Hourly Earnings Jun
- Jul 2 8:30 AM Average Workweek Jun
- Jul 2 8:30 AM Initial Claims 06/27
- Jul 2 10:00 AM Factory Orders

I will be looking at the unemployment rate, initial Claims of Unemployment, and the Auto sales numbers carefully next week for more info on how much better the economy may be improving.