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The Mortgage Bankers’ purchase index was released at 7:00 AM EDT, and there was a week to week decrease of 10.5% last week, due to an increase in FHA mortgage premiums and causing concern about the housing market as the second federal stimulus program comes to an end.

At 8:30 AM EDT, the Consumer Price Index report for March will be released.  The consensus is that CPI will be up 0.1% for last month, with a 0.1% increase in CPI when food and energy are removed.

Also at 8:30 AM EDT, the Retail Sales report for March will be released.  The consensus is that retail sales increased 1.2% from February because of poor weather in February, strong auto sales, and an early Easter.

At 10:00 AM EDT, the Business Inventories report for February will be released.  The consensus is that inventories increased 0.5% from January, after no change in the previous month.

Also at 10:00 AM EDT, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will testify to the Joint Economic Committee about the economic outlook in Washington.

At 10:30 AM EDT, the weekly Energy Information Administration Petroleum Status Report will be released, giving investors an update on oil inventories as oil prices continue to move higher.

At 2:00 PM EDT, the Federal Reserve will release its next Beige Book report, providing reports on economic conditions in each of the 12 Federal Reserve districts.

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