A 25% tariff on auto imports, announced by U.S. President Donald Trump last week, is set to take effect. The tariff will apply to imported passenger vehicles and light trucks.
A batch of economic data is due, including non-manufacturing PMI, trade balance, and weekly jobless claims numbers, among others. The Institute for Supply Management’s non- manufacturing PMI for March is forecast to be at 53, slightly down from February’s 53.5. The S&P Global services and composite PMI readings for March will also be released. Separately, the U.S. trade deficit is expected to have narrowed to $123.5 billion in February from $131.4 billion. For labor market conditions, investors will focus on initial jobless claims data, with the number of applicants expected to have increased by 1,000 to 225,000 for the week ended March 29. Continued jobless claims for the week ended March 22 are forecast to have risen to 1.87 million from 1.856 million the previous week.
Exxon Mobil is scheduled to release a snapshot of its first-quarter earnings, sharing details on changes in oil and gas prices, refining and chemical margins that affected its businesses in the first quarter, and comparing changes during the period to operating results in the prior quarter.
Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook is slated to speak on the economic outlook before the University of Pittsburgh 2025 McKay Lecture event. Additionally, Fed Vice Chair Philip Jefferson will speak on "U.S. Economic Outlook and Central Bank Communications" before the Conference on Financial Intermediaries, Markets and Monetary Policy at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Conagra Brands is expected to post a fall in third-quarter revenue, hurt by slowing demand for its frozen meals and packaged food as customers turn to cheaper private label brands. Investors will look out for comments regarding the impact of tariffs on Conagra's earnings, further slowdown in consumer demand and any price increases on its products.
Lamb Weston Holdings is expected to post a rise in third-quarter revenue, helped by recovering demand for its frozen products. Investors will look for comments on demand, pricing actions, inventory levels, impact of input costs and annual forecasts.
Brazil will release S&P Global services and composite PMI readings for March. The services PMI in February was at 50.6, while the composite PMI reading was 51.2.
