5 Things to Watch on the Economic Calendar

Reports on factory activity and home sales will offer key clues about how well the economy fared in August amid financial-market turmoil and growing concerns about a slowdown in China. Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen will give more insight into the central bank’s thinking on interest rates.

#1: Factory Checkup

A weak global economy and the sharp drop in oil prices have weighed on industry purchases of machinery and other big-ticket items, in turn hurting factories. Thursday’s Commerce Department release of durable-goods orders will offer clues about whether tougher times are ahead. Overall orders climbed a healthy 2.2% in July and 4.1% in June. The closely watched measure of business investment—orders for nondefense capital goods, excluding aircraft—also picked up but remained down significantly from last year.

#2: The Fed's Path Forward

Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen speaks at the University of Massachusetts Amherst on Thursday. The topic is inflation dynamics and monetary policy, the same topic of this year’s Jackson Hole, Wyo., conference. She may provide key clues about the Fed’s thinking on the path forward for interest rate increases, after the central bank held off on raising rates this month. It’s the most important of a number of Fed speeches scheduled for the week.

#3: Housing Market Health

Ms. Yellen may have called the housing market depressed after the Fed’s latest policy meeting, but it’s picked up appreciably this year. The National Association of Realtors offers an update Monday with the release of existing-home sales for August, while the Commerce Department reports on new-home sales Thursday. The former was up 10% in July from a year earlier while the latter was up 26%.

#4: One More Stab at GDP

The Commerce Department will solidify its estimate of how fast the economy grew in the second quarter. The agency’s second reading, released last month, showed that gross domestic product grew at a 3.7% annual rate from April through June, a solid rebound from the first quarter’s 0.6% expansion. While big revisions aren’t expected, even a modest one upward would bolster the notion that the economy entered the second half of the year on solid footing despite mounting troubles abroad.

#5: Chirpy Consumers?

Consumers remain the pillar of the U.S. economy, and Ms. Yellen made clear in her press conference that they hold the keys to stronger growth ahead. Friday’s report on consumer sentiment from the University of Michigan will show whether consumer spirits took a dip amid the market turmoil.