This Week: Retail sales, housing starts, Deere earns

A look at some of the key business events and economic indicators upcoming this week:

SIZING UP RETAIL SALES

The Commerce Department issues its January tally of U.S. retail sales Wednesday.

Sales fell a seasonally adjusted 0.7% in December from the previous month. Sales also fell in October and November, even as retailers rolled out holiday season sales months earlier than usual. Economists project that retail sales snapped their three-month losing streak in January. They’ve forecast that sales climbed 1.1% from a month earlier.

Retail sales, monthly percent change, seasonally adjusted:

Aug. 1.4

Sept. 1.7

Oct. -0.1

Nov. -1.4

Dec. -0.7

Jan. (est.) 1.1

Source: FactSet

BUILDING BOOM

Economists expect that the pace of newly started residential construction projects slowed last month after hitting a 14-year high in December.

They project U.S. home construction hit a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.65 million in January. That would be down from around 1.67 million in December. Record-low mortgage rates and the migration of Americans to larger homes better suited for home offices during the pandemic has fueled demand, leading to more homebuilding. The Commerce Department serves up its January housing starts data Thursday.

Housing starts, monthly, seasonally adjusted annual rate:

Aug. 1,373,000

Sept. 1,437,000

Oct. 1,530,000

Nov. 1,578,000

Dec. 1,669,000

Jan. (est.) 1,650,000

Source: FactSet

IMPROVING OUTLOOK?

Wall Street expects that Deere & Co. kicked off its current fiscal year with a solid quarterly report card.

Analysts predict the tractor and backhoe maker’s earnings and revenue increased in the November-January quarter from a year earlier. Deere has said that it expects to benefit this year from more stability in the construction and forestry industries, and improving conditions in the farm economy, including rising crop prices. Deere delivers its fiscal first-quarter results Friday.