By Wallace Witkowski, MarketWatch
Devil is in details of jobs report to push Fed to raise
rates
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Investor attention turns to the
latest jobs report this week along with a slew of other economic
data.
Stocks were roughly flat last week but finished the month up
with hefty gains
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stocks-wall-street-waits-for-gdp-sentiment-and-more-fed-speakers-2015-02-27).
For February, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) and the
S&P 500 Index (SPX) both finished up about 5.5% and the Nasdaq
Composite Index gained 7.1%.
Further improvement in the labor market is needed to ease the
Federal Reserve off the dovish stance it once again exhibited this
past week
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/yellen-prepares-markets-for-less-patient-fed-2015-02-24),
said Lindsey Piegza, chief economist at Sterne Agee, in a recent
note.
Economists surveyed by MarketWatch expect the addition of
235,000 jobs for February -- a bit of a drop off from recent months
-- with the unemployment rate declining a fraction to 5.6%.
But, as Piegza notes, even as unemployment has hit its lowest
rate since the recession, there are bothersome details giving the
Fed pause.
Hurdles that need to be overcome include weak wage growth, a low
employment participation rate, rates of part-time workers that
still levels before the recession, and the lackluster creation of
quality jobs, she said.
Jobs data comes out on Friday. January core inflation and
consumer spending data will be released on Monday, along with the
Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing index.
Shares of General Motors Co. (GM.XX) and Ford Motor Co. (F) will
be in focus as February car sales come out on Tuesday.
Then, on Wednesday, the ISM puts out its services index and the
Fed will release its Beige Book report.
Scattered across the week, a few companies will be bringing up
the rear this when it comes to quarterly reports.
Notable earnings reports this week
Report date Company/Ticker (FactSet EPS / revenue estimate)
Mon., March 2 Mylan Inc. ($1.05 / $2.07 billion)
Tues., March 3 Autozone Inc. ($1.10 / $6 billion)Best Buy Co. ($1.35 / $14.35 billion)
Weds., March 4 H&R Block Inc. (loss of 36 cents / $526.6 million)Brown-Foreman Corp. (87 cents / $1.13 billion)
Thurs., March 5 Costco Wholesale Corp. ($1.18 / $27.65 billion)Kroger Co. (90 cents / $25.18 billion)
Fri., March 6 Staples Inc. (30 cents / $5.76 billion)
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