From CNBC: Jobs shocker may show economy is in real trouble
The economic data has been weak recently – and Q1 GDP will be weak. This might be due to a combination of seasonal factors, poor weather, the West Cost port slowdown, the stronger dollar and lower oil prices (the negative impacts are more obvious, but overall lower prices will be a positive).
But there is no recession in sight. R-E-L-A-X.
Monday:
• Early, Black Knight Mortgage Monitor for February
• At 10:00 AM ET, the Fed will release the monthly Labor Market Conditions Index (LMCI).
• At 10:00 AM, ISM non-Manufacturing Index for March. The consensus is for a reading of 56.7, down from 56.9 in February. Note: Above 50 indicates expansion.
Weekend:
• Schedule for Week of April 5, 2015
From CNBC: Pre-Market Data and Bloomberg futures: currently S&P futures are down 17 and DOW futures are down 142 (fair value).
Oil prices were mixed over the last week with WTI futures at $49.70 per barrel and Brent at $55.36 per barrel. A year ago, WTI was at $101, and Brent was at $106 – so prices are down 50% or so year-over-year.
Below is a graph from Gasbuddy.com for nationwide gasoline prices. Nationally prices are up to $2.39 per gallon (down more than $1.10 per gallon from a year ago).
If you click on “show crude oil prices”, the graph displays oil prices for WTI, not Brent; gasoline prices in most of the U.S. are impacted more by Brent prices.
|
|
| Orange County Historical Gas Price Charts Provided by GasBuddy.com |