Wall Street week ahead: PCE inflation, flash S&P PMI readings, Q4 GDP data to guide markets

Wall Street investors would have plenty of economic data to analyse in the week ahead.

A key inflation – Federal Reserve-preferred Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index, flash PMI readings from the S&P, personal income and spending data, among other economic reports will be released.

On Wednesday, the US central bank kept its interest rate unchanged, while Fed chair Jerome Powell said any effects on inflation from US President Donald Trump’s tariffs would be “transitory”.

In the week ahead, the IPO (initial public offering) market will also be in focus as Nvidia-backed cloud computing company CoreWeave is expected to debut on the Nasdaq. It plans to raise around $2.7 billion.

Economic calendar

On March 24 (Monday), separate reports on S&P flash US services PMI and S&P flash US manufacturing PMI for March will be released.

On March 25 (Tuesday), separate reports on S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index (20 cities) for January, consumer confidence for March, and new home sales for February will be declared.

On March 26 (Wednesday), data on durable-goods orders for February will be released.

On March 27 (Thursday), figures for initial jobless claims for the week ended March 22, second revised data for the GDP for fourth quarter (Q4), and pending home sales data for February will be released.

On March 28 (Friday), separate reports on personal income and personal spending for February, PCE Index for February, and consumer sentiment (final) for March will be released.

Earnings

Following companies are due to report fourth quarter earnings in the week ahead — KB Homes, Oklo, Enerpac Tool Group, McCormick & Co., GameStop, Core & Main, Smithfield Foods, Pony AI, Cintas, Paychex, Dollar Tree, Chewy, Jefferies Financial Group, Lululemon Athletica, TD SYNNEX, Braze, AAR, and Winnebago Industries.

Markets last week

Wall Street stocks closed slightly higher Friday, snapping a four-week losing streak.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 32.03 points, or 0.08 per cent, to 41,985.35, the S&P 500 gained 4.67 points, or 0.08 per cent, to 5,667.56 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 92.43 points, or 0.52 per cent, to 17,784.05.

For the week, the S&P 500 gained 0.5 per cent, the Nasdaq rose 0.17 per cent, and the Dow climbed 1.2 per cent.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.25 per cent from 4.23 per cent.

Gold prices edged lower on Friday due to a stronger US dollar and profit-taking.

Spot gold fell 1 per cent at $3,015.43 an ounce. US gold futures settled 0.7 per cent lower at $3,021.40.

US crude gained 0.31 per cent to end at $68.28 per barrel, while Brent settled at $72.16 per barrel, up 0.22 per cent.