Economic Calendar-new home sales, existing homes and Case/Shiller housing index

Here’s a look at our economic calendar for this week:

• Consumer Confidence came out today and is definitely downbeat at a reading of 46, down 10 points from last month.  The jobs picture continues to plague the consumer.

• Case-Shiller home prices came out today showing mixed results.  The data showed the second straight month of month to month declines at -.2%, but there is normally a seasonal adjustment downward during the fall and winter.  Overall the data shows a consistent improvement in the West, Southeast and Midwest.

• New home sales on Wednesday are projected to come in a bit higher than the last reading of 342,000 units which represented a 7.6% decline in December.

• Existing home sales, GDP and Consumer Sentiment all come out on Friday and will be closely watched by the financial markets.

Economic Calendar for the Week of February 22-26 2010