The key reports this week are March housing starts, CPI and retail sales.

For manufacturing, the March Industrial Production report and the April NY and Philly Fed manufacturing surveys will be released this week.

----- Monday, Apr 12th -----
No major economic releases scheduled.

----- Tuesday, Apr 13th -----
6:00 AM ET: NFIB Small Business Optimism Index for March.

8:30 AM: The Consumer Price Index for March from the BLS. The consensus is for 0.5% increase in CPI, and a 0.2% increase in core CPI.

----- Wednesday, Apr 14th -----
7:00 AM ET: The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) will release the results for the mortgage purchase applications index.

12:00 PM: Discussion, Fed Chair Jerome Powell, Economic Club of Washington Interview, At the Economic Club of Washington

2:00 PM: the Federal Reserve Beige Book, an informal review by the Federal Reserve Banks of current economic conditions in their Districts.

----- Thursday, Apr 15th -----
8:30 AM: The initial weekly unemployment claims report will be released.  The consensus is for a decrease to 720 thousand from 744 thousand last week.

8:30 AM: Retail sales for March is scheduled to be released.  The consensus is for a 5.5% increase in retail sales.  The consensus is probably low (given the stimulus checks).

This graph shows the year-over-year change in retail sales and food service (ex-gasoline) since 1993. Retail and Food service sales, ex-gasoline, increased by 7.0% on a YoY basis in February.

8:30 AM: The New York Fed Empire State manufacturing survey for April. The consensus is for a reading of 18.2, up from 17.4.

8:30 AM: the Philly Fed manufacturing survey for April. The consensus is for a reading of 43.0, down from 51.8.

9:15 AM: The Fed will release Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization for March.

This graph shows industrial production since 1967.

The consensus is for a 3.0% increase in Industrial Production, and for Capacity Utilization to increase to 75.8%.

10:00 AM: The April NAHB homebuilder survey. The consensus is for a reading of  83, up from 82.  Any number above 50 indicates that more builders view sales conditions as good than poor.

----- Friday, Apr 16th -----
8:30 AM ET: Housing Starts for March.

This graph shows single and total housing starts since 1968.

The consensus is for 1.600 million SAAR, up from 1.421 million SAAR in February.

10:00 AM: University of Michigan's Consumer sentiment index (Preliminary for April).

10:00 AM: State Employment and Unemployment (Monthly) for March 2021