Key economic events for the week of May 27 Last week saw few surprises as home prices and new-home sales numbers reinforced the market's upward climb. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke had a few stern words about Congress's deficit battles at his testimony on Capitol Hill. This week brings with it more housing market data as well as some insight into the health of the consumer economy. Markets are closed for Memorial Day. The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home-price index is released at 9 a.m. Analysts expect data to show that home prices rose 1 percent in March, compared with a rise of 1.24 percent in February. Home prices are projected to be 10.2 percent higher than in March of last year. A shortage of housing inventory has been pushing home prices higher, but last week's existing-home sales data suggested that inventory was also starting to tick upward. Boston Federal Reserve President Eric S. Rosengren is scheduled to speak about the country's economic outlook at the Economic Club of Minnesota. April number on pending home sales are released at 10 a.m. Analysts expect the rate of sales to rise 1.4 percent from March. The index increased 1.5 percent last time as more Americans flocked to buy homes and take advantage of low mortgage rates. The number of weekly jobless claims is projected to stay the same as last week, at 340,000 claims. That number was actually a drop from the week before, a sign that the nation's employment scene is slowly improving. At 8:30 a.m., the Commerce Department releases its revised estimate of first-quarter gross domestic product. Analysts expect the growth rate to remain steady, at 2.5 percent. Personal income for April, out at 8:30 a.m., is expected to show a 0.1 percent gain, compared with a 0.2 percent rise in March. Consumer spending is expected to be flat, compared with a 0.2 percent increase in March.