This week’s schedule picks up with big reports on sales, manufacturing, and inflation. Find out what you need to watch!

After last week’s slow schedule of economic reports, we’ll see some influential reports this week... that have the potential to really move the markets.

• We’ll start off Tuesday morning with the January report of Retail Sales, which is considered a timely indicator of broad consumer spending patterns.
• We’ll also see manufacturing news this week with Tuesday’s Empire State Index, which looks at New York State ’s manufacturing sector and is a good gauge of manufacturing overall. Then on Thursday, we’ll see the Philadelphia Fed Index, which is another important manufacturing report. Those two indices have the potential to impact the market, since they indicate the health of the manufacturing sector in the U.S.
• More news is headed our way on Wednesday with the Producer Price Index (PPI), which measures inflation at the wholesale level. Then, the very next day on Thursday morning, we’ll see the Consumer Price Index (CPI) with a look at inflation at the consumer level. In light of last week’s news about inflation concerns around the globe - including in China and Brazil - it will be important to see what these reports reveal. Remember, inflation is important to keep an eye on because it is the archenemy of Bonds and home loan rates.
• Wednesday will also bring more housing industry news with reports on the number of Housing Starts and Building Permits in January.
• Finally, the busy week of reports caps off Thursday with the Initial Jobless Claims report. Last week’s report showed that Initial Jobless Claims hit the lowest weekly reading since July 2008. Overall, the labor market appears to be slowly gaining positive traction... and further improvement will lead to an improvement in the housing market, but also higher rates over time.

Remember: Weak economic news normally causes money to flow out of Stocks and into Bonds, helping Bonds and home loan rates improve, while strong economic news normally has the opposite result.

As you can see in the chart below, Bonds and home loan rates have had a tough time recently, but were able to stabilize at the end of last week. In the end, Bonds and home loan rates finished the week just slightly below where they started, but home loan rates are still near historic lows for now.

The tax benefits of homeownership

When it comes to the tax benefits of renting vs. buying, the benefits of buying are many, while there are few or no tax benefits for renting. This simple fact can help get renters motivated to take the plunge into homeownership.
The tax benefits of buying a home include:
Home mortgage interest deduction: The interest paid on a mortgage or mortgages of up to $1 million for a principal residence and/or second home is deductible as an itemized deduction. In the early years of a home loan most of the payments consist of interest, so this deduction is particularly substantial during the first years of homeownership.
Depending on the state a buyer lives in and his or her tax bracket, this deduction can reduce the cost of borrowing by one-third or more.
Home equity loan deduction: Homeowners can borrow up to $100,000 against the equity in their home and deduct the interest as an itemized deduction. The money can be used for any purpose, such as paying off high-interest credit card debt. In contract, the interest on credit card debt is not deductible.
Property tax deduction: Homeowners also get to deduct from their federal income taxes the state and local property taxes they pay on their home. This is another itemized deduction that renters don't get.
Deductible homebuying expenses: Various closing costs ordinarily involved in a home purchase are also deductible as itemized deductions, including loan origination fees (points), prorated interest on a new loan, and prorated property taxes paid at settlement.
$250,000/$500,000 home-sale exclusion: Perhaps the greatest tax benefit of owning a home comes when a person sells it at a profit. Homeowners who lived in their home for two of the prior five years prior to its sale need pay no income tax on a substantial amount of their profit -- $250,000 for single homeowners and $500,000 for married homeowners who file jointly. This exclusion can be used once every 24 months.
14 days of free rental income: Another little known tax benefit of owning a home is that the owner can rent it out for up to 14 days during the year and pay no tax at all on the rental income. In contrast, a renter who sublets his or her rental must pay income tax on all the rental income he or she earns.
Tax benefits of renting:
The only tax benefit that a renter can qualify for by virtue of being a renter is the home office deduction. This is a business deduction available to renters who own a business and have a home office they use regularly and exclusively for business purposes.
Some employees can qualify for this deduction as well. The deduction is limited to the amount of profit earned from the business each year. If a renter pays a lot of rent, this deduction can be substantial. Homeowners who are in business and have a home office can also qualify for the deduction.
Of course, the value of the tax benefits of buying a home depends on the state the buyer lives in and his or her tax bracket. Buyers who live in high tax states like New York or California get the most benefit.
This is why the blanket statement "it's always better to buy than rent" is not always true. It all depends on the buyer's individual circumstances.

"A house is not a home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body." - Benjamin Franklin.

Last week, the housing market received some food and fire for the mind, but not everyone was at home with the news.

First, the good news. The housing market received a serving of good news last week, as New Home Sales reportedly rose 17.5% in December to come in better than expectations. Overall, the report demonstrated that housing continues to recover - albeit slowly. Despite that good news though, the markets were keyed in on another more important event last week: the release of the Fed’s Interest Rate Decision and Monetary Policy Statement.

As expected, the Fed made no change to the Fed Funds Rate and even the Policy Statement was pretty much the same. But that didn’t stop the markets from getting a little fired up about the release. Let’s take a look at why.

It’s important to understand that the Fed has to be very careful with how bullish their economic comments are, as they don't want to see long-term rates move higher. Well, the Fed's comments certainly were not bullish as they said "employers remain reluctant to add to payrolls" and "the housing sector remains depressed."

So why did Bonds initially improve nicely on the news and then crumble later in the day? The answer is, not everyone in the trading pits is buying what the Fed is saying. Instead, some people believe the Fed is talking down the true underlying strength of the economy, so that it can justify injecting the full $600 Billion of Quantitative Easing into the economy.

Speaking of comments that impacted the markets... President Obama delivered his State of the Union Address to members of Congress last week. Although the President’s call for a freeze on discretionary spending for 5 years may appear to be Bond bullish in that any reduction in the deficit would be good for Bonds, the reality is that so much more has to be done to really get our long-term debt in check. And some of last week’s weakness in Bonds was likely attributed to the feeling that the speech came and went without any real sense that the deficit is going to be reduced in a meaningful way, especially in the near term. The Bond market probably would have liked the word "cut" in spending rather than "freeze," since a "freeze" suggests only a temporary halt in spending at current levels.

In the end, the news last week demonstrated that economic conditions are improving, but they are doing so gradually. As a result, the market remains volatile, as Bonds and home loan rates move up and down depending on what reports or speeches hit the news wires. The good news is that despite the volatility, home loan rates remain extremely low for now and present a tremendous opportunity for buyers who lock in at the opportune moment.