Fannie Mae's Home Purchase Sentiment Index (HPSI) for September reveals that consumers' economic and financial concerns kept housing confidence in check. The Home Purchase Sentiment Index fell 2.3 points in September to 91.5, retreating from a survey high in August. Three of the six HPSI components declined month-over-month, including an 8-percentage point drop in the net "Confidence About Not Losing Job" component and 7-percentage point drop in the net "Home Prices Will Go Up" component. These were partially offset by increases in the "Good Time to Buy" and "Good Time to Sell" components, at 3 and 4 percentage points on net, respectively.
US/China trade talks will kick off towards the end of the week. The markets have been gripped in the headlines and will react accordingly to the slant of the talks. Bloomberg reported over the weekend that Chinese officials have narrowed the range of subjects that will be discussed on Thursday and Friday and may be reluctant to a broad deal. Stocks, which suffered a third weekly loss on Friday due in part to fears of slowing growth, kick off this week modestly lower.
The Fed minutes from the September FOMC meeting will be released this week on Wednesday. Fed Chair Powell said on Friday that the Fed's job is to "keep the economy expanding as long as possible," and repeated that the US economy is "in a good place." There shouldn't be big any surprises coming from the minutes after the Chair's words. Mr. Powell will be speaking today in Salt Lake City at 1:00 p.m. ET at a conference.
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