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Sunday, March 06, 2011

Schedule for Week of March 6th

by Calculated Risk on 3/06/2011 08:33:00 AM

Note: Here is the Summary for last week ending March 4th

The key economic reports this week will be the trade balance report on Thursday and February retail sales on Friday.

----- Monday, March 7th -----

8:00 AM ET: Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart speaks at the NABE conference in Arlington, VA. "A View from the Fed"

9:15 AM: Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher speaks at the Institute of International Bankers conference in D.C. "Challenges and Opportunities Facing the U.S. and Global Economy and Financial Markets"

3:00 PM: Consumer Credit for January. The consensus is for a $3.4 billion increase in consumer credit. Consumer credit has increased for three straight months after declining sharply during and after the recession.

----- Tuesday, March 8th -----

7:30 AM: NFIB Small Business Optimism Index for February. This index has been showing some increases in optimism.

Small Business Optimism Index Click on graph for larger image in graph gallery.

This graph shows the small business optimism index since 1986. The index increased to 94.1 in January from 92.6 in December.

Although still fairly low, this is the highest level for the index since December 2007.

10:00 AM: Senate confirmation hearing for Federal Reserve Board nominee and Nobel laureate Peter Diamond

----- Wednesday, March 9th -----

7:00 AM: The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) will release the mortgage purchase applications index. This index has been very weak over the last couple months suggesting weak home sales through the first few months of 2011.

9:00 AM ET: Ceridian-UCLA Pulse of Commerce Index™ This is the diesel fuel index for February (a measure of transportation).

10:00 AM: Monthly Wholesale Trade: Sales and Inventories for January. The consensus is for a 0.9% increase in inventories.

----- Thursday, March 10th -----

8:30 AM: The initial weekly unemployment claims report will be released. The number of initial claims had been trending down over the last few months. The consensus is for a slight increase to 378,000 from 368,000 last week.

8:30 AM: Trade Balance report for January from the Census Bureau.

U.S. Trade Exports Imports This shows the monthly U.S. exports and imports in dollars through December 2010.

Imports had been mostly flat since May, but increased again in December. Exports have started increasing again after the mid-year slowdown.

The consensus is for the U.S. trade deficit to be around $41.5 billion, up from $40.6 billion in December.

10:00 AM Regional and State Employment and Unemployment (Monthly) for January 2010

12:00 PM: Q4 Flow of Funds Accounts from the Federal Reserve.

----- Friday, March 11th -----

8:30 AM: Retail Sales for February.

Retail SalesThis graph shows retail sales since 1992. This is monthly retail sales, seasonally adjusted (total and ex-gasoline).

Retail sales are up 13.7% from the bottom, and now 0.4% above the pre-recession peak.

The consensus is for retail sales to rise sharply in February, a 1.0% increase from January. (0.7% increase ex-auto).

9:55 AM: Reuters/University of Mich Consumer Sentiment preliminary for March. The consensus is for a slight decrease to 76.5 from 77.5 in February.

10:00 AM: Manufacturing and Trade: Inventories and Sales for January. The consensus is for a 0.8% increase in inventories.

10:00 AM: Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey for January from the BLS. This report has been showing a general increase in job openings, but very little turnover in the labor market.

Best Wishes to All!