Wednesday: Mortgage Applications Index, Consumer Credit

From Tim Duy: Crazy Fedspeak

There are two interviews of note hitting the wires today. One is with Atlanta Federal Reserve President Dennis Lockhart, in which he leaves open the possibility of a September beginning to the tapering process. ... then we see the comments of Chicago Federal Reserve President and noted dove Charles Evans ... via the Wall Street Journal:

During a breakfast briefing with reporters Mr. Evans said, “I clearly would not rule that out,” when asked if the Fed might begin throttling back on its asset purchases at the Federal Reserve‘s Sept. 17-18 policy meeting....

...The Fed is “quite likely to reduce the flow purchase rate starting later this year,” Mr. Evans said. “I couldn’t tell you exactly which month that will be.”

...  If Evans thinks it is possible, then it must be very possible, despite only another month's data between now and then.
...
Bottom Line: I think the Fed very much wants to taper in September, and hence why I am wary to believe we need to see some significant acceleration in the data to push them in that direction.

Wednesday:
• At 7:00 AM ET, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) will release the results for the mortgage purchase applications index.

• At 1:00 PM, President Barack Obama will answer questions about housing in an event hosted by Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff. Submit questions here. The virtual event will be streamed on zillow.com/whitehouse and Whitehouse.gov.

• At 3:00 PM, Consumer Credit for June from the Federal Reserve. The consensus is for credit to increase $15.0 billion in June.