Your Guide to Leading Economic Indicators announced this coming week

This will be a big week for the release of government data. Here is a summary day by day of the expected government data for the week on Housing, GDP, Consumer Confidence and other significant data, which measures the health of the economy. You'll want to check this post daily to see what data will be released for that day. To read the rest of the news on earnings expected this week click on the link at the end of this post thanks to Alexandra Twin, CNNMoney.com senior writer.

On the docket
Monday: December existing home sales are expected to have fallen to a 4.40 million unit annual rate from a 4.49 million unit rate in November.

The December index of leading economic indicators (LEI) is expected to have fallen 0.3% after falling 0.4% in November.

Tuesday: The January consumer confidence index from the Conference Board is expected to hold steady at an all-time low of 38.0, unchanged from December.

Also due Tuesday is the S&P/CaseShiller home index for November, expected to show steep declines.

Wednesday: The Federal Reserve concludes its two-day policy meeting with an announcement on interest rates due at around 2:15 p.m. ET. No change is expected in the fed funds rate: The central bank lowered interest rates to nearly zero in December and hinted it would keep them there for some time.

As always, the statement accompanying the decision will be critical, as it offers the Fed's assessment of the economy, now in its second year of a recession. (Full story)

Also on Wednesday, the World Economic Forum kicks off in Davos, Switzerland. It runs through Sunday.

Thursday: The December durable goods orders report is due before the start of trade. Orders are expected to have dropped 1.8% after dropping 1.5% in November.

December new home sales are due after the start of trading. Sales are expected to have fallen to a 400,000 annual unit rate from a 407,000 annual unit rate in November.

Friday: Fourth-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to have fallen by an annual rate of 5.2%, after falling by an annual rate of 0.5% in the third quarter. That would be the biggest quarterly decline in roughly 26 years.

The January Chicago PMI, a regional read on manufacturing, is expected to have fallen to 34.2 from 35.1 in December.

The University of Michigan releases its revised January consumer sentiment index, which is expected to hold steady at 61.9.

Here's the link to this week's earnings announcements.

U.S. Fatalities for January 2008

The good news is that U.S. Casualties are down again for the 4th consecutive month. The bad news is that our brave soldiers are still getting killed each month. Any deaths are unacceptable in my view. I think if I had a son, daughter, wife or loved one there I would be on pins and needles every day they were away.

This latest month had 40 deaths as compared to the following numbers for January in previous years:
2007 83
2006 62
2005 107
2004 47

We need a President who will bring the troops home starting when they are elected. Remember, the cleric Sadr promised a cease fire until the end of March and that time will soon be here. The war will become front and center again I am afraid to say. It will not be Al-Qaeda, it will be a continuation of the Civil war, which was never civil. It will be Sunni against Shia, Shia against Sunni, and we will be in the middle.