Key Economic Indicators and Earnings Reports Set for Release

This week brings significant developments for the stock market, featuring a new Jobs Week with reports on job openings, private sector payrolls, and the latest Employment Situation. Additionally, investors will receive the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) report, which the Federal Reserve uses as its primary inflation gauge. Furthermore, the week also includes the busiest period for Q1 earnings.

Jobs Week: Key Reports on Employment

Tuesday marks the start of Jobs Week with the release of the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), revealing March figures. Analysts anticipate a decrease in job openings to 7.4 million, down from last month’s 7.57 million. Over the past year, job openings have generally fluctuated within this range, except for September’s low of 7.1 million and last April’s peak of 8.09 million.

On Thursday, Automatic Data Processing (ADP) will release its private sector payroll figures for April. The estimate suggests a gain of 110,000 private-sector jobs, considerably lower than the 155,000 jobs reported last month, which itself was an increase from February’s 84,000. Payroll figures have shown volatility recently, with October’s increase at 221,000 contrasting sharply with July’s minimal rise of just 42,000.

In contrast, Weekly Jobless Claims have remained stable since March 1. Last week’s Initial Jobless Claims are expected to rise slightly to 226,000 from the previous week’s 222,000. Continuing Claims have also been declining recently, with last week’s count at 1.84 million. These figures continue to demonstrate a robust labor market.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is expected to report Nonfarm payrolls dropping to around 130,000 for April, down from March’s 228,000. Layoffs linked to the federal government’s DOGE program may soon be reflected in these statistics. Despite previous surprises on the upside, analysts expect the Unemployment Rate and Wage Growth figures to remain at March levels: 4.2% and 0.3%, respectively.

Anticipated PCE Report with Notable Changes

Wednesday, the last day of April, will feature the latest PCE report. The month-over-month change is expected to be flat at 0.0%, down from the previous +0.3%. Year-over-year, the headline is projected to land at +2.2%, a decrease from +2.5% reported in March. Excluding the more volatile food and energy sectors, core PCE is anticipated to show a month-over-month increase of 0.1%, down from 0.4%. The year-over-year estimate stands at +2.5%, a drop from +2.8% last month.

Q1 Earnings Reports: Key Results and Anticipations

Domino’s Pizza (DPZ) reported its Q1 earnings before Monday’s opening bell. Earnings per share reached $4.33, surpassing the Zacks consensus estimate of $4.06, while revenues of $1.1 billion fell short of expectations by 0.79%. U.S. comparable store sales dipped unexpectedly by 0.5%, though international sales saw a healthy increase of 3.7%. Consequently, shares fell 1.5% in pre-market trading, adding to a year-to-date decline of 5%.

After today’s market close, investors will watch for new earnings reports from NXP Semiconductors (NXPI), steel producer Nucor (NUE), and cloud security firm F5 (FFIV). On Wednesday, Meta (META) and Microsoft (MSFT) will report, followed by Apple (AAPL) and Amazon (AMZN) on Thursday.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.