What to watch next week

00:00 Speaker A

Now let’s talk about what to watch on the week of December 29th.

00:03 Speaker A

We’ll start with the Federal Reserve. On Tuesday, we will receive the minutes of the Fed’s December FOMC meeting.

00:08 Speaker A

Investors will be scrutinizing the minutes to see how divided policymakers really are after delivering their third rate cut of the year earlier this month.

00:19 Speaker A

Many officials opposed the December meeting, but for opposite reasons, highlight a federal government that is far from united.

00:26 Speaker A

The question now is how cautious policymakers can be in 2026.

00:32 Speaker A

Let’s move on to the housing issue; Pending new home sales data for November will be available on Monday.

00:37 Speaker A

Economists estimate this figure will be 0.8%. That’s a full point lower than the October edition, showing home sales are still rising, but at a slower pace than the previous month.

00:46 Speaker A

New data shows fewer buyers are willing or able to sign a contract due to rising mortgage rates and ongoing affordability pressures.

00:54 Speaker A

And stay with housing. We’ll learn more about home prices on Tuesday with the Case-Shiller home price index.

01:00 Speaker A

Prices are expected to fall slightly to 0.1%; This suggests that homes are still getting more expensive overall, but not as fast as the previous month.