AFTER CHRISTMAS: Here's What's Coming In The Week Ahead

9:00 AM: S&P/Case-Shiller House Price Index for October. Although this is the October report, it is really a 3 month average of August, September and October.

This graph shows the nominal seasonally adjusted Composite 10 and Composite 20 indexes (the Composite 20 was started in January 2000).

The consensus is for a 0.2% decrease in prices in October. The CoreLogic index showed a 1.3% decrease in October (NSA). I expect new post-bubble lows for the Case-Shiller indexes (seasonally adjusted).

10:00 AM: Conference Board's consumer confidence index for December. The consensus is for an increase to 58.1 from 56.0 last month.

10:00 AM: Richmond Fed Survey of Manufacturing Activity for December. The consensus is for the index to be at 5, up from 0 in November (above zero is expansion).

10:30 AM: Dallas Fed Manufacturing Survey for December. The index showed contraction in November with a reading of -5.1 (the only regional survey showing contraction).

7:00 AM: The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) will release the mortgage purchase applications index. This index has been especially weak all year, although this doesn't include cash buyers.

8:30 AM: The initial weekly unemployment claims report will be released. Last week was the lowest level for the 4-week average of weekly claims since early 2008.

9:45 AM: Chicago Purchasing Managers Index for December. The consensus is for a decrease to 60.1 from 62.6 in November.

10:00 AM: Pending Home Sales Index for November. The consensus is for a 1.5% increase in the index.

11:00 AM: Kansas City Fed regional Manufacturing Survey for December. The consensus is for the index to be at 6, up from 4 in November (above zero is expansion).

No releases scheduled.