This week's economic calendar is relatively quiet, though it does feature a handful of appearances from Federal Reserve speakers. Thursday's release of initial jobless claims will likely draw attention, too, as Wall Street looks to gauge the strength of the labor market ahead of the next Fed meeting.
Thursday, November 21: Initial jobless claims: Jobless claims are currently hovering near their lowest levels since May.
You can read on to see the entire weekly economic calendar of the most important upcoming economic reports scheduled to be released over the next several days. At times, we provide expanded previews and recaps for select reports.
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Please check back often. This economic calendar is updated regularly. Bolded reports are those considered more noteworthy and all reporting times are in Eastern Time.
Economic calendar highlights
Monday (11/18)
| Economic report | Period | Time released |
| NAHB Housing Market Index | November | 10:00 am |
| Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee speaks | N/A | 10:00 am |
Tuesday (11/19)
| Economic report | Period | Time released |
| Housing starts | October | 8:30 am |
| Building permits | October | 8:30 am |
| Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee speaks | N/A | 12:25 pm |
Wednesday (11/20)
There are no noteworthy economic reports scheduled for release on Wednesday, November 20.
Thursday (11/21)
Will jobless claims keep declining?
"The macro environment remains resilient," says Mark Hackett, chief of investment research at Nationwide. "The job market continues to perform better than feared," he adds, noting that last week's drop in initial jobless claims brought them to their lowest level since May, "helped by recovery from hurricanes and the resolution of a Boeing (BA) strike."
Continuing claims, which count the folks already receiving benefits and help to show how quickly they're reentering the workforce, also declined in the week ended November 9.
Will jobless claims keep falling? Wall Street will find out when the Labor Department releases the results for the week ended November 16 ahead of Thursday's open.
| Economic report | Period | Time released |
| Weekly jobless claims | Week ended November 16 | 8:30 am |
| Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Survey | November | 8:30 am |
| Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack speaks | N/A | 8:45 am |
| Existing home sales | October | 10:00 am |
| Kansas City Fed President Jeff Schmid speaks | N/A | 1:10 pm |
Friday (11/22)
| Economic report | Period | Time released |
| S&P Global Flash Services Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) | November | 9:45 am |
| S&P Global Flash Manufacturing PMI | November | 9:45 am |
| University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index (final) | November | 10:00 am |
Reporting schedules are provided Forex Factory and MarketWatch.
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