Next Week: United Airlines earnings, retail sales, housing starts

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A look at some of the key business events and economic indicators upcoming this week.

SPOTLIGHT ON UNITED

United Airlines delivers its latest quarterly report card Tuesday.

Wall Street predicts that United will report lower earnings for the July-September quarter than a year earlier, but higher revenue. The airline’s profit surged 23% in the second quarter, as record crowds at U.S. airports helped the carrier overcome sharply rising costs for fuel and labor. In July, United warned that its third-quarter results would miss Wall Street’s expectation, citing a glut of U.S. flights that led to airlines cutting prices to fill seats.

TRACKING RETAIL SALES

The Commerce Department releases its monthly snapshot of U.S. retail sales Thursday.

Retail sales ticked up 0.1% from July to August, after jumping the most in a year and a half the previous month. Online retailers, sporting goods stores, and home and garden stores all reported higher sales. Economists project that retail sales rose 0.5% in September.

Retail sales, monthly percent change, seasonally adjusted:

April -0.2

May 0.2

June -0.3

July 1.2

Aug. 0.1

Sept. (est.): 0.5

Source: FactSet

HOUSING BAROMETER

New government data on residential construction should provide insight into the state of the new-home market.

The Commerce Department is expected to report on Friday that builders broke ground on new condos and single-family homes at a slower pace in September than in the previous month. That would follow two months of acceleration in housing starts.

Housing starts, monthly, seasonally adjusted annual rate:

April 1,377,000

May 1,315,000

June 1,329,000

July 1,237,000

Aug. 1,356,000

Sept. (est.) 1,350,000

Source: FactSet