February jobs data and the final stretch of fourth-quarter earnings season will keep investors busy this week.
On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics will report February employment figures. Economists’ average estimate is for a gain of 200,000 nonfarm payrolls and a steady unemployment rate at 3.7%. Surprisingly strong January jobs growth totaled 353,000 jobs.
That report will follow Wednesday’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. The consensus forecast is for 8.9 million job openings on the last business day of January, which would be down slightly from December.
Earnings reports to watch this week will come from
GitLab
on Monday,
Target
and
CrowdStrike Holdings
on Tuesday, and
Brown-Forman
and
Campbell Soup
on Wednesday. On Thursday,
Broadcom,
Costco
Wholesale, and
Kroger
release results.
Other economic-data highlights will include the Institute for Supply Management’s Services Purchasing Managers’ Index for February on Tuesday and the Federal Reserve’s second Beige Book of 2024 on Wednesday.
Finally, the European Central Bank will announce a monetary-policy decision on Thursday.
Monday 3/4
GitLab reports fourth-quarter fiscal-2024 results.
Tuesday 3/5
CrowdStrike Holdings,
Ross Stores,
and Target report earnings.
The Institute for Supply Management releases its Services Purchasing Managers’ Index for February. Consensus estimate is for a 52.5 reading, roughly one point less than in January.
Wednesday 3/6
Abercrombie & Fitch,
Brown-Forman, and Campbell Soup announce quarterly results.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. Economists forecast 8.9 million job openings on the last business day of January, slightly fewer than in December. Job openings have declined by three million since they peaked in March of 2022, but are still historically elevated.
The Federal Reserve releases the beige book for the second of eight times this year. The report gathers anecdotal information on current economic conditions from the 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell testifies before the House Financial Services Committee as part of the Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to Congress. Powell appears before the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday.
ADP releases its National Employment report for February. Expectations are for an increase of 150,000 in private-sector employment, following a gain of 107,000 in January.
Thursday 3/7
Broadcom,
Burlington Stores,
Costco Wholesale, Kroger,
Marvell Technology,
and
MongoDB
release earnings.
The European Central Bank announces its monetary-policy decision. The ECB is widely expected to keep its key short-term interest rate unchanged at 4%.
The Federal Reserve releases the Financial Accounts of the U.S., which includes household net worth data, for the fourth quarter. At the end of the third quarter last year, total household net worth, including nonprofits, stood at $151 trillion, $1.3 trillion less than the record from the second quarter of 2023. With the
S&P 500
returning 11.7% in the fourth quarter, it’s likely household net worth will reach a new peak.
Friday 3/8
The BLS releases the jobs report for February. Consensus estimate is for an increase of 200,000 in nonfarm payrolls, while the unemployment rate is expected to remain unchanged at 3.7%. January jobs growth surprised to the upside, as it has for much of the past two years. The economy added 353,000 jobs in the first month of the year, more than double expectations. The stock market initially sold off when the data were released on concerns the Federal Reserve would delay cutting interest rates but ended that day in the green and rose 5.2% in February, its best February showing since 2015.
—Dan Lam contributed to this article
Write to Nicholas Jasinski at nicholas.jasinski@barrons.com
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