The important Employment report will come out next 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 loss of over 600K jobs in February.
Before the Employment Data, the ISM national manufacturing index and Personal Income will come out on Monday.
Pending Home Sales, a leading indicator for the housing market, is scheduled for Tuesday.
Productivity, Factory Orders, and Construction Spending reports will be released on Thursday.
The amount of money the US Treasury will need to borrow to fund government spending seems to rise every week. Two weeks ago, it was the $787 billion Economic Stimulus Plan. Last week, the government announced the $275 billion Financial Stability Plan. This week, the Obama administration proposed a $3.6 trillion budget plan, with an estimated deficit of $1.75 trillion, which is enormous by historical standards. The Treasury will need to issue debt to borrow money to fund all of this. As the government issues more debt, the interest rate offered generally must rise to attract additional investors. Interest rates on similar investments such as MBS then move higher as well to compete for funds from investors.
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