However, the focus of the session was on FOMC Meeting Minutes. Federal Reserve policymakers expressed a cautious outlook on wage growth amid a "few signs of a broad-based pickup in wage growth," but remained confident that inflation would "move up this year," according to the minutes of the Fed's January policy meeting. "Inflation on a 12-month basis was expected to move up this year and to stabilize around the Committee’s 2 percent objective over the medium term," the minutes showed. "While some participants heard more reports of wage pressures from their business contacts over the intermeeting period, participants generally noted few signs of a broad-based pickup in wage growth in available data,” the minutes showed.
Thursday brought Unemployment Claims figures. In the week ending February 17, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 222,000, a decrease of 7,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised down by 1,000 from 230,000 to 229,000. The 4-week moving average was 226,000, a decrease of 2,250 from the previous week's revised average. Claims taking procedures in Puerto Rico and in the Virgin Islands have still not returned to normal.
This week markets will be looking at:
Durable Goods Orders (Tuesday 14:30)
Fed Chair Powell Testifies (Tuesday 14:30)
CB Consumer Confidence (Tuesday 16:00)
Prelim GDP (Wednesday 14:30)
Pending Home Sales (Wednesday 16:00)
Unemployment Claims (Thursday 14:30)
ISM Manufacturing PMI (Thursday 14:30)
