THE WEEK AHEAD

The biggest economic event next week will be the important Employment report on Friday. As usual, this data on the number of jobs, the Unemployment Rate, and wage inflation will be the most highly anticipated economic data of the month. Early estimates are for a gain of 170K jobs in March. Before the employment data, Pending Home Sales, Personal Income and the Core PCE price index will come out on Monday. Chicago PMI will come out on Thursday, and the ISM Manufacturing index will be released on Friday. Consumer Confidence, Factory Orders and Construction Spending will round out the schedule. There will be Treasury auctions on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. The FDIC is expected to release its proposed definition of a Qualified Residential Mortgage (QRM) next week as well. This announcement will begin to clarify which loans will be subject to risk retention.