Economic Reports for Next Week

Monday: November construction spending is due shortly after the start of trading. Spending is expected to have fallen 1.2% in November after falling 1.2% in the previous month.

Monthly truck and auto sales figures are due throughout the session.

Tuesday: The Institute for Supply Management's survey of the services sector of the economy is due shortly after the start of trade. The December index is expected to have dipped to 37 from 37.3 in November, remaining deep in recessionary territory.

The government's November factory orders report is due around the same time. Orders are expected to have fallen 2.6% after dropping 5.1% in October.

Data on November pending home sales, a leading indicator of housing market activity released by the National Association of Realtors, is due out at 10 a.m. ET. In October, he number of homes under contract to be sold fell by a mere 1% year over year. Analysts had expected pending sales to slip by 3.6%.

Also, the Federal Reserve will release the minutes from its Dec. 15-16 policy-making meeting. At that meeting, the Federal Open Market Committee established a target range for the federal funds rate of 0% to 0.25% and said it would likely keep rates at that level for some time.

Wednesday: The House Financial Services Committee meets to discuss how the next administration might make use of the remaining TARP funds, amid criticism that the $700 billion bailout has not been working.

Also Wednesday, a House panel holds an economic recovery plan hearing that will feature testimony from some of the nation's top economists.

Thursday: The nation's chain stores will be releasing December sales reports, giving investors a better sense of how badly the consumer has been hit amid the recession.

Separately, the Fed is slated to release its monthly consumer credit report at 3 p.m. ET. Consumer credit, a measure of consumer borrowing, for November is forecast to show an increase of $0.5 billion. In October, consumer credit fell by $3.6 billion