Economic reports due this week:

* Tuesday, the Commerce Department will report on retail sales in October. They rose 0.9% in September.

* Wednesday, the Fed will release figures on industrial production for October--the output of factories, mines and utilities. It will also report on plant-use rate, which tracks the amount of industrial capacity in use.

* Wednesday, the Commerce Department will issue its report on business inventories for September. They rose 0.7% the month before.

* Thursday, the Labor Department will issue the consumer price index for October. The CPI gauges price changes at the consumer level and is a much-watched marker of inflation.

* Friday, the Commerce Department will report on new housing starts for October.