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Wednesday:
• At 7:00 AM ET, The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) will release the results for the mortgage purchase applications index.
• At 10:00 AM, New Home Sales for December from the Census Bureau. The consensus is for 760 thousand SAAR, up from 744 thousand in November.
• At 2:00 PM, FOMC Meeting Statement. The FOMC is expected to announce the final asset purchases.
• At 2:30 PM, Fed Chair Jerome Powell holds a press briefing following the FOMC announcement.
On COVID (focus on hospitalizations and deaths):
| COVID Metrics | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Now | Week Ago |
Goal | ||
| Percent fully Vaccinated | 63.5% | — | ≥70.0%1 | |
| Fully Vaccinated (millions) | 210.7 | — | ≥2321 | |
| New Cases per Day3 | 692,359 | 737,733 | ≤5,0002 | |
| Hospitalized3 | 142,814 | 143,339 | ≤3,0002 | |
| Deaths per Day3🚩 | 2,166 | 1,791 | ≤502 | |
| 1 Minimum to achieve "herd immunity" (estimated between 70% and 85%). 2my goals to stop daily posts, 37-day average for Cases, Currently Hospitalized, and Deaths 🚩 Increasing 7-day average week-over-week for Cases, Hospitalized, and Deaths ✅ Goal met. |
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Click on graph for larger image.
This graph shows the daily (columns) and 7-day average (line) of positive tests reported.
New cases are now declining.
Unfortunately, deaths are still rising – now averaging over 2 thousand deaths per day – but well below the previous 7-day average record of 3,421 in January 2021.
Financial Services
