Home Sales, Fed Meeting Minutes, and Manufacturing Data to Usher in the New Year

(Barron’s)

Wall Street heads into the final trading days of 2025 sitting on double-digit annual gains for the major indexes.

U.S. stock and bond markets will wrap up the year on Wednesday, then close on Thursday in observance of New Year’s Day.

Before that, investors will get real estate data, including the National Association of Realtors’ pending home sales index on Monday and S&P Dow Jones Indices’ Cotality Case-Shiller index for October on Tuesday.

The Federal Open Market Committee will also release minutes from its December meeting on Tuesday.

The Institute for Supply Management will release its Chicago Business Barometer for December on Tuesday and its Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index for December on Friday. Also on Friday, the Census Bureau will release November construction spending statistics.

There are no major U.S. earnings reports this week.

Monday, 12/29

National Association of Realtors releases its pending home sales index for November. The PHSI, a forward-looking indicator of home sales based on contract signings, is expected to increase at a 0.8% monthly rate to a 76.8 reading.

Tuesday, 12/30

The Federal Open Market Committee releases minutes from its Dec. 9-10 meeting. The central bank opted to lower its target for the federal-funds rate by a quarter of a point to a range of 3.5% to 3.75%.

The Institute for Supply Management releases its Chicago Business Barometer for December. Consensus estimate is for a 41 reading, 3.7 points more than in November.

S&P Dow Jones Indices releases its Cotality Case-Shiller index for October. Home prices rose 1.4% year over year in September in the 20 major metropolitan areas measured by the index. For October, economists forecast prices rose at a 1.1% annual rate.

Wednesday, 12/31

Equity and fixed-income markets are open for the final trading session of the year. The bond market will close early at 2 p.m. ET.

Thursday, 1/1

Equity and fixed-income markets are closed in observance of New Year’s Day.

Friday, 1/2

The ISM releases its Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index for December. It fell to a 48.2 reading in November. Any reading below 50 signals contraction. November was the ninth-straight month the manufacturing sector contracted.

The Census Bureau reports construction spending statistics for November. The consensus call is for a 0.3% month-over-month increase in construction spending to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $2.18 trillion.

Write to Connor Smith at connor.smith@barrons.com