Lineup Today: Housing, Fed

The Federal Reserve concludes its two-day closed meeting today and is scheduled to release a statement at 2:15 p.m., providing a window into how it will tackle the deepening troubles of the economy. With interest rates at record lows, the Fed can't do too much to cut them further, so Fed watchers are waiting to see what other strategies the Fed will use to get the economy back on track. Last night, the Fed said in a letter to leaders in Congress that it plans to help homeowners avoid foreclosure by working out troubled mortgages that it owns.

Before that, a report on new home sales is out at 10 a.m. Data out earlier this week showed that existing home sales saw a surprising uptick in December, but only because people were looking for bargains and median prices had fallen.

Check back here for live updates throughout the day.

--Sara Goo