Reports on Monday on eurozone unemployment and consumer prices will provide a last snapshot of economic activity in the bloc before the European Central Bank undertakes a historic policy shift, moving in March to a program of large-scale bond buying to stimulate growth and hold off deflationary pressures. The economy recently has shown small signs of picking up.þþNonetheless, the jobless rate in the 19-nation currency zone is expected to be 11.4 percent, unchanged from December. Consumer prices are expected to fall 0.5 percent, for a second month in negative territory. While the large decline in oil prices has pushed prices lower, “core” inflation — excluding energy and food costs — remains near zero, far below the central bank’s target of slightly less than 2 percent. —David Jollyþþ• Personal Income and SpendingþþThe Bureau of Economic Analysis, a division of the Commerce Department, will report Monday on personal income and spending in January. Economists say they expect spending to have declined slightly primarily because the value of gasoline bought by consumers dropped as gas prices plunged, reducing the amount of spending over all. Auto sales may also have cooled in January, after a blockbuster 2014.þþPersonal income is thought to have risen, because of factors including the annual cost-of-living adjustments for Social Security recipients, which take effect in January. The combination of rising income, slower spending and savings on gas being put into the bank could increase the savings rate to just less than 6 percent, a two-year high. —Nelson Schwartzþþ• Hearing in Guardrail CaseþþThe final hearing in Trinity Industries’ guardrail fraud case in Texas will be Tuesday, before Judge Rodney Gilstrap of United States District Court imposes penalties on the company. The highway guardrail maker was found liable by a federal jury in October of defrauding the government by not disclosing changes to its ET-Plus guardrail system.þþThe jury in the whistle-blower case awarded $175 million, which under federal law will be tripled to $525 million. Judge Gilstrap may impose additional fines, potentially adding millions to the judgment, as well as lawyers’ fees.þþTrinity’s guardrail product is accused of malfunctioning in crashes and slicing through cars, injuring or killing those inside. The company denies its product is defective. Over 40 states have banned further use of the ET-Plus pending the results of a federal investigation. —Aaron M. Kesslerþþ• Retailers to Post EarningsþþA second wave of retailers will report fourth-quarter earnings this week, including Abercrombie & Fitch, the struggling apparel chain. Best Buy will also report on its holiday quarter and give more guidance for what could be a tough year for consumer electronics amid a decline in tablet sales and fewer big smartphone releases.þþFigures from Costco, the membership-only warehouse retail chain, will show how much it has been building on its dominance to attract new members and increase store traffic. And Staples, which recently announced a merger with Office Depot, will report on a quarter that is likely to show continued pressure from dwindling demand for office-supply items.þþBest Buy reports on Tuesday, Abercrombie & Fitch on Wednesday, Costco on Thursday and Staples on Friday. —Hiroko Tabuchiþþ• February Auto SalesþþCarmakers will report February sales on Tuesday, and analysts predict the numbers will be quite favorable. Auto sales were robust in 2014, though last year’s brutal winter kept many people away from dealerships.þþAs a result, this year’s January, February and even March sales will have somewhat larger percentage increases than would otherwise be the case. Kelley Blue Book, the auto research company, predicts new vehicle sales in February could reach nearly 1.3 million, up 8 percent from the previous year. It would be the 12th straight month of sales growth. —Aaron M. Kesslerþþ• Standard Chartered ReportþþStandard Chartered will report annual results on Wednesday, less than a week after announcing a leadership shake-up. The bank, which is based in London, but generates the majority of its profit in Asia, announced last week that its longtime chief executive, Peter Sands, will be succeeded this year by William T. Winters, the former head of JPMorgan Chase’s investment bank.þþThe lender also announced the impending departures of its chairman, the head of its Asian business and several directors. Separately, Barclays is expected to report its annual results on Tuesday. —Chad Brayþþ• Apple’s Appeal in Samsung SuitþþIn recent years, Samsung Electronics quickly rose to the top of the smartphone market, but not without stealing ideas from the iPhone, according to Apple’s lawyers. Apple failed last year to persuade a federal judge to order a permanent ban on sales of some Samsung phones that infringed Apple’s patents.þþOn Wednesday, Apple will present its argument to an appeals court in the hope of overturning the judge’s rejection. —Brian X. Chenþþ• Bank Stress Test ResultsþþThe nation’s largest banks on Thursday will receive the results of annual tests that aim to assess if they can weather severe financial storms. The Federal Reserve, which administers the so-called stress tests, will announce the results for 31 banks, including JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs, at 4:30 p.m. on its website.þþThe tests help the Fed decide whether to approve the banks’ plans for distributing money to their shareholders through stock buybacks and dividend payments. The banks, however, must wait until March 11 for the Fed’s approval. Last year, the Fed objected to the plans of five banks, including Citigroup. —Peter Eavisþþ• European Bank MeetingþþOn Thursday, the European Central Bank will hold its first monetary policy meeting since it decided in January to begin buying 60 billion euros a month in government bonds and other debt to try to arrest a decline in inflation to levels considered bad for growth.þþAt a news conference after the meeting Mario Draghi, the bank’s president, is expected to give more details about how the complicated purchase operations will work. —Jack Ewingþþ• February Jobs FiguresþþOn Friday morning, the Labor Department will release the latest employment data for February. After surging to the fastest pace since the late 1990s in late 2014, the rate of hiring is estimated to have dropped slightly in February, with employers increasing payrolls by 235,000. Still, that is a healthy level, and it should be enough to lower the jobless rate by 0.1 or 0.2 percentage points from January’s 5.7 percent rate, according to economists on Wall Street.þþIf the pace of hiring is much stronger or the unemployment rate drops more sharply than expected, that will be major news for investors and Wall Street. They are trying to decide when the Federal Reserve will begin its long-expected effort to raise short-term interest rates. It is a tossup between June and September. A positive surprise might tip the scales toward June, or at least tempt traders who always try to guess the Fed’s thinking to bet that way. —Nelson Schwartzþ
Source: NY Times
