The Impact of Rate Hikes On US Home Sales And Services PMI

The Week Ahead: Week of 21 August (GMT+3)

Tuesday, 22 August, 17:00 – US Existing Home Sales (Jul)

During June, existing home sales in the U.S. witnessed a drop, reaching a five-month low of 4.16 million, which could be attributed to the impact of the Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest rate hikes on house prices. In the upcoming report, the housing market’s overall activity could continue to be subdued as a result of elevated mortgage rates.

Wednesday, 23 August, 16:45 – US S&P Global US Services PMI (Aug)

The latest reading of the S&P Global US Services PMI recorded a reading of 52.3, slightly lower than the preliminary of 52.4. The services sector’s growth rate has eased to its slowest pace in five months, potentially influenced by higher interest rates, which seem to have impacted domestic customer spending. Services firms are indicating anticipated negative outcomes for the rest of the year.

Thursday, 24 August, 15:30 – US Core Durable Goods Orders (MoM) (Jul)

The US Core Durable Goods reading for June was 0.6%, surpassing the market forecast of 0.0%. Despite demonstrating significant economic improvement, businesses remain cautious about making investment moves due to concerns of a potential recession in the upcoming year.

Friday, 25 August, 09:00 – EU German GDP (QoQ) (Q2)

The most recent German GDP figures have slightly deviated from market expectations, registering a rate of 0.0% instead of the anticipated 0.1%. The country has been impacted by sluggish global demand and the uncertain global economic outlook. Market analysts remarked that the German outlook is unlikely to witness substantial recovery throughout the remainder of the year.