Monday Morning Meeting Notes (03/13/2023)

General Info:

• The employment report showed that the U.S. added 311,000 new jobs in February, which beat expectations of 215,000 new jobs
• The labor force participation rate rose from 62.4% to 62.5%, which led the unemployment rate to increase from 3.4% to 3.6%
• Fun Fact: Cello is actually the abbreviation of the word “violoncello” which means “little big viola.” A viola is also a stringed instrument slightly larger than a violin. Previously, cello was written as ‘cello to signify that it is an abbreviated version of the actual name

Monday 03/13:

• N/A

Tuesday 3.14159265359...:

• Happy Pi Day! Princeton, New Jersey also celebrates Albert Einstein's birthday today as he lived there for over twenty years. As an homage, they host an annual Einstein look-alike contest!
• Lennar Corp reports earnings
• NFIB Small Business Optimism Index data for February
• U.S. consumer price index (CPI) data for February
• CPI is expected to have increased 0.4% month-over-month and 6.0% year-over-year
• Core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy costs, is expected to have increased 0.4% month-over-month and 5.5% year-over-year

Wednesday 03/15:

• Beware the Ides of March! In Ancient Rome, it was notably a deadline for settling debts
• Adobe reports earnings
• U.S. retail sales for February
• U.S. producer price index (PPI) data for February, which provides an update on input prices
• PPI is expected to have increased 0.3% month-over-month and 5.4% year-over-year
• Core PPI, which excludes volatile food and energy costs, is expected to have increased 0.4% month-over-month and 5.2% year-over-year

Thursday 03/16:

• FedEx and Despegar.com report earnings
• European Central Bank (ECB) monetary policy meeting is expected to see the ECB raise rates by 0.50%, which would bring the main refinancing rate to 3.50%
• U.S. housing starts and building permits for February
• U.S. initial jobless claims and continuing claims data

Friday 03/17:

• U.S. industrial production for February
• University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index reports preliminary data for March
• U.S. Conference Board Leading Index for February