by Calculated Risk on 3/30/2022 08:56:00 PM

Thursday:
• At 8:30 AM ET, The initial weekly unemployment claims report will be released.  The consensus is for an increase to 195 thousand from 187 thousand last week.

• Also at 8:30 AM, Personal Income and Outlays for February. The consensus is for a 0.5% increase in personal income, and for a 0.5% increase in personal spending. And for the Core PCE price index to increase 0.4%.

• At 9:45 AM, Chicago Purchasing Managers Index for March. The consensus is for a reading of 56.6, up from 56.3 in February.

On COVID (focus on hospitalizations and deaths):

COVID Metrics
	Now	Week Ago	Goal
Percent fully Vaccinated	65.5%	---	≥70.0%1
Fully Vaccinated (millions)	217.6	---	≥2321
New Cases per Day3	25,218	26,682	≤5,0002
Hospitalized3	12,625	16,043	≤3,0002
Deaths per Day3	644	755	≤502
1 Minimum to achieve "herd immunity" (estimated between 70% and 85%). 2my goals to stop daily posts, 37-day average for Cases, Currently Hospitalized, and Deaths 🚩 Increasing 7-day average week-over-week for Cases, Hospitalized, and Deaths ✅ Goal met.

Click on graph for larger image.

This graph shows the daily (columns) and 7-day average (line) of deaths reported.

New cases, hospitalizations and deaths are declining.