This Week: Trade balance, Fed minutes, consumer borrowing
Apr 3, 2022, 9:10 PM | Updated: 9:43 pm
A look at some of the key business events and economic indicators upcoming this week:
EYE ON TRADE
The Commerce Department delivers its latest snapshot of the nation’s trade gap Tuesday.
The gap between the value of goods and services the U.S. sells abroad and what it buys widened in January to a monthly record high of $89.7 billion. The increase was driven by rising imports as energy costs surged. Economists predict the monthly U.S. trade gap eased in February to $87.6 billion.
Trade balance, monthly, billions of dollars, seasonally adjusted:
Sept. -81.2
Oct. -67.0
Nov. -80.1
Dec. -82.0
Jan. -89.7
Feb. (est.) -87.6
Source: FactSet
CLOSE-UP ON THE FED
The Federal Reserve releases the minutes from last month’s meeting of the central bank’s policymakers Wednesday.
At the meeting, policymakers opted to raise the Fed’s benchmark short-term interest rate by a quarter point from near zero where it had been since the pandemic recession started two years ago. The Fed also signaled up to six additional rate hikes this year as it tries to tame the worst inflation since the early 1980s.
JUST CHARGE IT
The Federal Reserve serves up new data Thursday on how much credit Americans took on in February.
The tally, which excludes mortgages and other loans secured by real estate, is expected to show consumer borrowing increased by $20 billion. That would follow an increase of $6.8 billion the previous month. That increase in January pushed total consumer credit to $4.44 trillion.
Consumer credit, monthly change, seasonally adjusted, billions of dollars:
Sept. 26.0
Oct. 13.9
Nov. 39.3
Dec. 22.4
Jan. 6.8
Feb. (est.) 20.0
Source: FactSet
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