A look at some of the key business events and economic indicators upcoming this week:

       THE FED SPEAKS

       The Federal Reserve delivers an economic and interest rate policy update Wednesday, after a two-day meeting of its policymakers.

       The central bank has been under pressure to move faster to rein in its ultra-low-rate policies amid surging inflation. At its November meeting, the Fed announced that it would start to trim its bond purchases, which serve to keep long-term interest rates low, starting this month. Once its done buying bonds, the Fed could begin raising its benchmark interest rate.

       HOUSING MARKET BELLWETHER

       New government data on residential construction should provide insight into the state of the new-home market.

       The Commerce Department is expected to report on Thursday that builders broke ground on new apartments and single-family homes at a faster pace in November than in the previous month. The pace of U.S. home construction slowed in October. Builders are benefiting from strong demand for new homes, but rising materials costs and supply chain issues have led to construction delays.

       Housing starts, monthly, seasonally adjusted annual rate:

       June 1,657,000

       July 1,562,000

       Aug. 1,573,000

       Sept. 1,530,000

       Oct. 1,520,000

       Nov. (est.) 1,570,000

       Source: FactSet

       NO RESERVATIONS

       Wall Street expects another solid quarterly snapshot from Darden Restaurants.

       Analysts predict the owner of Olive Garden and other chains will report Friday that its earnings and revenue increased in the September-November quarter versus the same period last year. That would echo the company’s results in its previous quarter, when Darden cited strong sales growth, in part due to the opening of new restaurants.