Yesterday, I talked about housing demand and concluded that it is not only healthy but likely to increase. This represents only one-half of the picture, however. In many ways, the more important half is what that demand means for the housing supply. Home building requires labor, materials, financing, and most other sectors of the economy, so it can provide even more of a boost to the economy as a whole.

I held a client webinar yesterday that included a look at housing demand. As part of my commentary, I made the point that housing is actually an excellent leading indicator for the rest of the economy and a key part of any future growth. At that point, I realized I had not done a detailed update on this topic in the blog for some time—so here we go.

Just in case anyone has forgotten, it’s projected that the U.S. will run out of money to pay its bills on November 3, which is less than two weeks away. Since we hit the debt ceiling some time ago, the Treasury has been using the “usual extraordinary measures” to pay the bills—including raiding other federal accounts (e.g., federal employee retirement system balances). But even that cash will run out in early November. Once again, a crisis is coming.

I have talked about valuations quite a bit recently, and, as I have noted, they are certainly important. Valuations, however, are largely subjective and change over time; there is little you can do to manage or react to them.

Earnings, however, are objective—the numbers are what they are, come out every quarter, and reflect actual business activity. As such, we need to watch them even more closely.

Overall, the economic news last week was balanced. In this Monday Update, I’ll review the good and the bad, as well as what to watch for in the week ahead.

We know the Federal Reserve is worried about inflation being too low, and yesterday’s figures seem to substantiate that fear. With headline inflation over the past month down by 0.2 percent, and flat over the past year, it seems that prices are indeed just sitting there.

Walmart's expected earnings decline is bad news for the company, but could it actually be good news for consumers? Learn what I think about Walmart's decision to raise wages, which I discussed in an appearance Wednesday on CNBC's Power Lunch program.

One of yesterday’s big news stories was the surprise announcement by Walmart that, instead of growing by 4 percent (as expected), earnings per share were expected to decline by between 6 percent and 12 percent in fiscal year 2017. Shares, of course, dropped substantially, and the market as a whole took note. Lower earnings are bad, right? For the company, and quite possibly for the market, this is certainly true. But is it bad for the economy and the country? I don’t think so.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a major trade agreement among 12 countries, including most of the major economic powers in Asia, along with the U.S.—but notably excluding China. After five years of negotiations, the participating parties reached accord on October 5, and the agreement is now working its way toward approval in the various national legislatures. But is the TPP a good idea?

There are two components to stock markets: earnings and how much investors are willing to pay for them. Recently, much of the commentary has been on valuations, with the implicit assumption that earnings would more or less take care of themselves. Although this has been the case for the past several years, at least on a per-share basis, one of my colleagues and an investment research associate, Sam Millette, recently pulled some figures that gave me pause.