Can the April data continue to be positive?
Friday, May 6, 2005 8:44:52 PM
http://www.afxpress.com WASHINGTON (AFX) - Economists were pleased when the strong April employment report on Friday put a dent in the argument that the economy was headed for a prolonged downturn. Now they are looking for more confirmation that the soft-patch was limited to March
There could be some confirmation in the April retail sales data, which is expected to show a rebound in consumer spending from weak March
Economists surveyed by MarketWatch are expecting a 0.6% gain in April retail sales, double the tepid 0.3% rise in March. The retail sales report will be released at 8:30 a.m. Eastern on Thursday
Excluding autos, sales are expected to be up 0.5%, compared with a 0.1% rise in March, the slowest gain in a year
"Gas price increases eased a bit and labor markets came back pretty solidly in April. All that suggests that March's weakness in consumer spending likely passed," said Haseeb Ahmed, economist at JP Morgan/Chase
In addition, sales of cars and trucks posted a 17.5 million unit annual pace in April, up from 16.8 in March
But there is still a skunk at the picnic - the U.S. trade gap
The March trade deficit is expected to widen slightly to a new record of $61.3 billion from $61.0 billion in February. It shows that strong consumer demand is spilling over into imports, benefiting foreign economies but slowing growth in the domestic economy
The Commerce Department will release the March trade data at 8:30 a.m. Eastern on Wednesday
Almost as important as the data are several speeches this week on the economic outlook by top Fed officials
The Fed did not sound panicky about the economy earlier this week when they hiked short-term interest rates for the eight straight meeting to 3.0% on Tuesday
In its post-meeting statement, the FOMC said "recent data suggest that the solid pace of spending growth has slowed somewhat, partly in response to the earlier increases in energy prices," but noted that labor market conditions remained firm
Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher, Kansas City Fed president Thomas Hoenig and St. Louis Fed president William Poole are scheduled to address the economy and monetary policy in speeches this week
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