Business

OVERNIGHT MONEY: Top policymakers hash out their economic forecasts

by Vicki Needham, Bernie Becker, Peter Schroeder and Erik Wasson - 04/30/12 10:57 PM ET

Shaun Donovan, the Housing and Urban Development secretary, is slated to discuss the current housing situation at the Bloomberg event, while Alan Krueger, the chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, is scheduled to talk about the job market.

Small Business Administrator Karen Mills will talk about how to spur business development and making the United States more competitive.

{mosads}Moving outside of the administration, Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chairman, is on tap to discuss regulations and the free market.

And former Rep. Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.), who ran for president twice and was a key player in the 1986 overhaul of the tax code, will discuss how to reform it again with Grover Norquist, the anti-tax activist.

WHAT ELSE TO WATCH FOR

Monetary smorgasbord: If last week’s Fed policy update and press conference from Chairman Ben Bernanke were not enough to satiate your passion for all things monetary policy, you’re in luck. On Tuesday, a panoply of Fed officials will hit the public speaking circuit, as they wax poetic on the economy, the central bank and how the two should coexist. All told, six Fed governors are set to deliver public remarks tomorrow. Of particular interest will be what Jeffrey Lacker, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, has to say at the Bloomberg event. The hawkish Fed head was the lone dissenter on the Fed’s last policy statement, as he did not believe the economy would warrant basement interest rates through the end of 2014. Other Fed officials slated to speak include two more regional Fed presidents that currently are members of the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee: Dennis Lockhart from Atlanta and John Williams from San Francisco.

Global regs: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce hosts a high-powered discussion on global regulations on Tuesday with Cass Sunstein, the Office of Management and Budget’s regulations coordinator, delivering a keynote address. International regulatory harmonization is a major goal of U.S.-based corporate giants.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

Construction Spending: The Department of Commerce releases its report on spending that is broken down among residential, non-residential and public expenditures on new construction. The monthly changes are volatile and are subject to huge revisions that rarely affect the market.

ISM Index: The Institute for Supply Management releases its index that measures the pace of growth of the manufacturing sector.

WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED

— Obama goes Round Two with Boehner, this time over highway spending bill
— Obama administration walks fine line with Chinese human-rights activist
— Federal housing regulator postpones decision on principal reductions
— Homeownership rate hits 15-year low
— Consumer bureau names head of diversity office
— US labor union, Mexican lawyers file complaint against Alabama immigration law
— Consumer spending ticked up at a slower pace in March