by Calculated Risk on 2/29/2020 08:11:00 AM

The key report scheduled for this week is the February employment report.

Other key reports scheduled for this week are the trade deficit and February vehicle sales.

----- Monday, Mar 2nd -----
10:00 AM: ISM Manufacturing Index for January. The consensus is for the ISM to be at 50.4, down from 50.9 in January.

Here is a long term graph of the ISM manufacturing index.

The PMI was at 50.9% in January, the employment index was at 46.4%, and the new orders index was at 52.0%.

10:00 AM: Construction Spending for December. The consensus is for a 0.7% increase in construction spending.

----- Tuesday, Mar 3rd -----
All day: Light vehicle sales for February. The consensus is for light vehicle sales to be 16.8 million SAAR in February, unchanged from 16.8 million in January (Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate).

This graph shows light vehicle sales since the BEA started keeping data in 1967. The dashed line is the January sales rate.

10:00 AM: Corelogic House Price index for January.

----- Wednesday, Mar 4th -----
7:00 AM ET: The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) will release the results for the mortgage purchase applications index.

8:15 AM: The ADP Employment Report for February. This report is for private payrolls only (no government). The consensus is for 170,000 payroll jobs added in February, down from 291,000 added in January.

10:00 AM: the ISM non-Manufacturing Index for February.

2:00 PM: the Federal Reserve Beige Book, an informal review by the Federal Reserve Banks of current economic conditions in their Districts.

----- Thursday, Mar 5th -----
8:30 AM: The initial weekly unemployment claims report will be released. The consensus is for 220 thousand initial claims, up from 219 thousand the previous week.

----- Friday, Mar 6th -----
8:30 AM: Employment Report for February.   The consensus is for 175,000 jobs added, and for the unemployment rate to be unchanged at 3.6%.

There were 225,000 jobs added in January, and the unemployment rate was at 3.6%.

This graph shows the year-over-year change in total non-farm employment since 1968.

In January, the year-over-year change was 2.052 million jobs.

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

This graph shows the U.S. trade deficit, with and without petroleum, through the most recent report. The blue line is the total deficit, and the black line is the petroleum deficit, and the red line is the trade deficit ex-petroleum products.

The consensus is the trade deficit to be $47.7 billion.  The U.S. trade deficit was at $48.9 billion in December.

3:00 PM: Consumer Credit from the Federal Reserve.