The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure, a batch of corporate earnings reports, and the latest economic indicators will be this week’s highlights. U.S. stock and bond markets will be closed on Friday in observance of Good Friday.
Earnings releases this week will come from GameStop and McCormick on Tuesday, then Carnival and Cintas on Wednesday. Walgreens Boots Alliance will report on Thursday.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis will release the personal-consumption expenditures price index for February on Friday. Excluding food and energy components, the core PCE is forecast to have climbed 2.8% year over year. That would match the January reading.
Other economic data to watch this week will include the Census Bureau’s durable goods report for February and the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index for March.
Monday 3/25
The Census Bureau reports new residential sales data for February. Expectations are for a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 667,000 single-family homes sold, 16,000 more than in January.
Tuesday 3/26
GameStop and McCormick announce earnings.
The Census Bureau releases the durable goods report for February. Consensus estimate is for new orders for manufactured durable goods to increase 1% month over month to $279 billion. Durable goods orders fell $18 billion or 6.2% in January.
The Conference Board releases its Consumer Confidence Index for March. Economists forecast a 107.8 reading, about one point more than in February.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency releases its Home Price Index for January. The consensus call is for a 0.3% month-over-month increase. Home prices rose 6.5% in 2023 and the U.S. housing market has experienced positive annual appreciation each quarter since the start of 2012, according to the FHFA.
Wednesday 3/27
Carnival, Cintas, Jefferies Financial Group, and Paychex report quarterly results.
Thursday 3/28
Walgreens Boots Alliance releases second-quarter fiscal 2024 earnings.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis releases its final estimate of fourth-quarter gross domestic product growth. GDP is expected to have grown at an annual rate of 3.2%, unchanged from the second estimate released by the BEA in late February.
The Institute for Supply Management releases the Chicago Business Barometer for March. Expectations are for a 45.7 reading, nearly two points more than in February, but still below the expansionary level of 50.
The National Association of Realtors releases its Pending Home Sales index for February. The PHS index, a leading indicator of housing activity, is seen rising 1.8% month over month, following a 4.9% decline in January.
Friday 3/29
Equity and fixed-income markets are closed in observance of Good Friday.
The BEA releases the personal-consumption expenditures price index for February. The consensus call is for a 2.5% year-over-year increase, one-tenth of a percentage point more than in January. The core PCE, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, is expected to rise 2.8%, matching the January figure. Despite being a fair bit higher than the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, the annual change in the core PCE is at its lowest level since March 2021. Speaking about the hotter-than-expected inflation data so far this year, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said this past week that the data “haven’t really changed the overall story, which is that of inflation moving down gradually on a sometimes-bumpy road toward 2%.”
