Business week ahead, Dec. 25-29

KEY EVENT: Ringing out the year. Although it’s a typically quiet post-Christmas week, there are several important local and national economic releases, including an update on Long Island employment, two closely followed housing market reports and a fresh look at how confident the consumer is as the year heads to its end.

MONDAY: World financial markets closed for Christmas.

TUESDAY: Stores and malls reopen for returns — and after-Christmas sales. Retailer analytics firm ShopperTrak predicts Dec. 26 will be the fourth largest shopping day of 2017.

WEDNESDAY: The state Labor Department releases unemployment rates for Nassau, Suffolk and Long Island as a whole. Also, November pending home sales from the National Association of Realtors and October home prices from S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller. And December consumer confidence from The Conference Board.

THURSDAY: Jobless benefits claims for the week ended Dec. 23 from the U.S. Labor Department.

FRIDAY: The last day of stock trading in 2017. The Dow, S&P and Nasdaq are each poised for a yearly gain, as is the Newsday Long Island Index, the benchmark gauge of the Island’s 30 biggest companies by stock market value. Each of the indexes set all-time highs this month.