10 Things You Need to Know: April 28, 2026
Key data releases this week include: FHFA House Price Index (Tue), consumer confidence (Tue), trade balance (Wed), housing starts (Wed) durable goods orders (Wed), FOMC rate decision (Wed), personal income and spending (Thu), PCE Price Index (Thu), Q1 GDP (Thu), leading economic indicators (Thu), and ISM Manufacturing (Fri).
Haver
April 21, 2026
Total retail sales rose a larger-than-expected 1.7% m/m (+4.0% y/y) in March following a 0.7% m/m gain in February. The Action Economics Forecast Survey looked for a 1.4% monthly increase. The control group of sales (which exclude food services, autos, gasoline and building materials) posted another solid increase in March, rising 0.7% m/m following a 0.6% monthly increase in February.
Haver
April 21, 2026
The Pending Home Sales Index rose 1.5% m/m (-1.1% y/y) to 73.7 in March following an upwardly revised 2.5% gain in February. The index had fallen 41.1% since its October 2021 high.
Bloomberg
April 24, 2026
The University of Michigan consumer sentiment index fell to 49.8 in April from 53.3 in March, marking a record low in data originating in 1978. Consumer mood dimmed across all demographics—regardless of political party, income, age, and education. Consumer expectations for inflation over the long term increased this month to 3.5% – the highest level since October 2025 – after ranging between 3.2% and 3.3% during the prior four months.
Barron’s
April 27, 2026
More than 85 companies have reported first-quarter results and 87% have beaten consensus estimates, up from the five-year average of 78%. Growth is strongest in tech, with profits estimated to be up 45% from a year ago, but other sectors are also delivering solid gains, including financials, energy, and utilities. Wall Street is more optimistic on S&P 500 earnings than at the start of the year. That 18% earnings-growth figure for 2026 is up from nearly 15% in January.
Barron’s
April 27, 2026
The best outcome for the Fed and financial markets would be a timely Senate vote confirming Warsh, and a changing of the guard before the Fed’s June 16-17 policy meeting. There is now a good chance both will happen.
Other Voices/Barron’s
April 27, 2026
Bond investors are already demanding more compensation for longer-dated debt as concerns about inflation and mounting fiscal deficits build. Congress doesn’t need to trigger an outright crisis to do damage. It only needs to keep proving that it cannot make hard choices through normal order, only through brinkmanship, gimmicks, and patched-together procedural workarounds that only get more extreme and more last minute.
Barron’s
April 27, 2026
In the long term, central banks want more gold. In 2022 central banks accounted for 12% of gold bullion global demand but recently accounted for 24% of it. Countries such as China and India now favor gold over Treasuries.
The Wall Street Journal, American Banker
April 26, 2026, April 24, 2026
The Department of Justice has ended its investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell regarding comments about renovations at the Fed’s Washington, D.C., headquarters. The move clears the way for the Senate to confirm Kevin Warsh as the next Fed chair, after being stalled by Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., amid the investigation.
Reuters
April 23, 2026
It could take the Federal Reserve at least six months to move ahead with interest-rate cuts, according to a poll of economists, with elevated energy prices affecting the central bank’s calculus. Nevertheless, 71 of the 103 economists in the poll still expect at least one cut.