Your Trading Week Ahead — March 27th

Welcome to Your Trading Week Ahead for March 27th. Here’s what you need to know before you go…

Quick recap

Equity markets held their gains last week after a BIG bounce from the lows preceding the FOMC’s March meeting. After seeing some profit-taking on Monday, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) continued grinding to the upside before finishing Friday at $453 — the high of the week. Check out the action in the 30-minute chart below.

As for the indices themselves, the S&P 500 closed the week higher by 1.79% at 4,543. The Dow finished modestly higher, up 0.31% at 34,861. Tech stocks jumped as the Nasdaq closed up 1.99% at 14,169.

While geopolitical tensions surrounding the Russia-Ukraine conflict continue to develop, traders will also need to navigate a plethora of earnings and economic data in the week ahead.

What to watch this week

Nonfarm payrolls

As we come to the end of Q1, we’ll get the U.S. Labor Department’s latest employment data for March. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell referenced labor market strength as being a deciding factor for interest rate hikes moving forward. That makes Friday’s print even more important as Federal Reserve officials appear to be taking an increasingly hawkish tone.

PCE inflation numbers

Speaking of critical data, the Fed’s favorite inflation gauge, Core PCE, is due out Thursday premarket. It should give market participants further indication of how aggressive the Fed’s next rate move could be.

Earnings roundup

Earnings season continues with another packed week of popular stocks. We’ll hear quarterly data from Micron (MU), BioNTech SE (BNTX), XPeng Inc. (XPEV), Sundial Growers Inc. (SNDL), Lululemon Athletica Inc. (LULU), McCormick & Company (MKC), Five Below (FIVE), BlackBerry (BB), and Jefferies Financial Group (JEF) — just to name a few.

Here are the biggest names to watch:

Economic calendar

There are several events on the calendar this week with the potential to move markets. Here’s some of the most important things to watch:

• Trade in goods, advance report (Feb.) – Monday at 8:30am ET
• Case-Shiller national house price index (YoY Jan.) – Tuesday at 9am ET
• FHFA national house price index (YoY Jan.) – Tuesday at 9am ET
• Consumer confidence index (Mar.) – Tuesday at 10am ET
• Job openings & quits (Feb.) – Tuesday at 10am ET
• Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker speaks – Tuesday at 10:45am ET
• Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic speaks – Tuesday at 6:30pm ET
• ADP employment report (Mar.) – Wednesday at 8:15am ET
• GDP revision (SAAR Q4) – Wednesday at 8:30am ET
• Gross domestic income (SAAR Q4) – Wednesday at 8:30am ET
• Corporate profits (YoY Q4) – Wednesday at 8:30am ET
• Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin speaks – Wednesday at 9:15am ET
• Kansas City Fed President Esther George speaks – Wednesday at 1pm ET
• Initial and continuing jobless claims – Thursday at 8:30am ET
• Nominal personal income & consumer spending (Feb.) – Thursday at 8:30am ET
• PCE price index + YoY (Feb.) – Thursday at 8:30am ET
• Core PCE price index + YoY (Feb.) – Thursday at 8:30am ET
• Real disposable income & Real consumer spending (Feb.) – Thursday at 8:30am ET
• Chicago PMI (Mar.) – Thursday at 9:45am ET
• Nonfarm payrolls (Mar.) – Friday at 8:30am ET
• Unemployment rate (Mar.) – Friday at 8:30am ET
• Average hourly earnings (Mar.) – Friday at 8:30am ET
• Labor-force participation rate, ages 25-54 (Mar.) – Friday at 8:30am ET
• Chicago Fed President Charles Evans speaks – Friday at 9:05am ET
• Markit manufacturing PMI (Mar. final) – Friday at 9:45am ET
• ISM manufacturing index (Mar.) – Friday at 10am ET
• Construction spending (Feb.) – Friday at 10am ET

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