Last Week’s Highlights:

The major indices rose last week as investors expected that the U.S. and China were going to resume trade talks. The tech-heavy Nasdaq led the way, with Microsoft (MSFT) contributing the most to the index’s return by gaining 1.36%. A plethora of economic data was released last week. The Producer Price Index (excluding food and energy) fell 0.10% month over month, showing that the cost of producing goods declined. The Consumer Price Index (excluding food and energy) rose 0.1% month-over-month and 2.2% year-over-over. This rate of inflation is near the Federal Reserve’s target, signaling that the Fed will likely raise interest rates again later this month.

Looking Ahead:

While Monday does not bring market moving economic data, the housing market will be in focus throughout the remainder of the week. On Wednesday, information on Building Permits will be released for August. Wall Street is estimating that 1.3 million building permits were issued, on par with the 1.3 million building permits issued in July. Existing Home Sales information will be released on Thursday. Consensus estimates are for 5.4 million homes sales for the month of August. On the earnings front, there will not be many releases, as the third calendar quarter is coming to an end.

Have a wonderful week!