Forecast for the Week: It will be a heavy week of economic news ahead - including several that will directly relate to the housing industry. Find out what to expect.

It's been said that "no news is good news...." And while that can be true, lately many of the economic reports we have seen have been very good news, as they show signs that our economy continues to improve.

Stocks just enjoyed their seventh straight week of gains, due to the positive economic reports that have been streaming in. While this is certainly cause for celebration, an important question we need to consider is what does this mean for home loan rates in the short and long term?

On the one hand, improvement in the economy is good news on the housing front, as once people feel better about keeping their job or getting a new job, home purchasing activity will rise, and values will follow. But on the other side of the coin, as the labor market and economy improve, home loan rates will have to gradually rise as well. And remember, this all ties in with the Fed's plan to inject the full $600 Billion into our economy as part of their latest round of Quantitative Easing, known as "QE2."

Remember, the three part goal of QE2 is to create inflation, lower unemployment, and boost Stock prices - and we are seeing evidence of these goals occurring. Not only have Stock prices improved over the last seven weeks as we discussed above, but December's Jobs Report posted the lowest unemployment rate since May of 2009. And last week, we saw some evidence of inflation as the Producer Price Index (PPI), which measures inflation at the wholesale or producer level, came in higher than expected. While December's Consumer Price Index wasn't quite as hot as the PPI, going forward our increasing budget deficit could cause inflation to spike down the road.

So what's the bottom line if you have been thinking about purchasing or refinancing a home? Home loan rates are still very attractive right now, so call or email me if you want to get started. Or forward this newsletter on to someone you know who may benefit from today's historically low rates.

There's a holiday shortened week ahead, as both the Stock and Bond Markets are closed Monday in honor of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. But the rest of the week has plenty of news in store, including a read on the housing market:

• There's a double dose of real estate news with Wednesday's Housing Starts and Building Permits Report and Thursday's Existing Home Sales Report. Analysts are expecting to see a bump higher in Existing Home Sales to a 4.80M pace, and some moderate improvement on the new construction side as well. Check back with me on Wednesday to get the breakdown of how the news actually arrived!
• There's also a double dose of manufacturing news. Tuesday's Empire State Index looks at New York State's manufacturing sector and is a good gauge of manufacturing overall, while on Thursday we'll also see the Philadelphia Fed Index, another important report.
• Thursday's weekly Initial and Continuing Jobless Claims Report will be an important one to watch this week. Last week Initial Jobless Claims came in at 445,000, well above expectations of 415,000 and the highest reading in two months. Was this spike just a paperwork backlog because of the holidays... and will this week's claims be close to that 400,000 mark that will show the labor market is continuing to improve?
• Also, earnings season continues, with reports from Citigroup, Apple, Google, GE, Goldman Sachs, and more.

Remember: Weak economic news normally causes money to flow out of Stocks and into Bonds, helping Bonds and home loan rates improve, while strong economic news normally has the opposite result.