by Calculated Risk on 9/17/2013 08:59:00 PM

Here is my FOMC preview from Sunday: FOMC Projections Preview: Some Modest Tapering is Possible. I think some modest tapering is likely (but not certain), and I expect the GDP forecast to be revised down.

Wednesday:
• 7:00 AM ET, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) will release the results for the mortgage purchase applications index.

• At 8:30 AM, Housing Starts for August. The consensus is for total housing starts to increase to 915 thousand (SAAR) in August.

• During the day, the AIA's Architecture Billings Index for August (a leading indicator for commercial real estate).

• At 2:00 PM, FOMC Meeting Announcement. It is likely the FOMC will start to reduce QE purchases following this meeting.

• Also at 2:00 PM: the FOMC Forecasts will be released. This will include the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) participants' projections of the appropriate target federal funds rate along with the quarterly economic projections.

• At 2:30 PM, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke holds a press briefing following the FOMC announcement.