US: Good trade deficit, consumer confidence and Fed speak in focus - TDS

Analysts at TDS expect that US advance goods trade deficit to narrow in February, helped in part by a lower petroleum import bill.

Key Quotes

“Markets look for the goods trade deficit to decline to $66.4bn form $68.8bn. We will also receive advance wholesale inventories in the same release and here the market looks for a 0.2% m/m rebound in February.”

“Conference Board Consumer Confidence will give an update on sentiment for the month of March; market expectations are for a modest pullback to 114.0 from the current cycle-high of 114.8.”

“Lastly, we will also hear from a number of Fed speakers, including Chair Yellen and Governor Powell. Yellen will be speaking on workforce development challenges and is unlikely to reference the outlook for policy (no Q&A) while Powell will be making his first comments since the March FOMC. Also on the docket are George and Kaplan; neither are a 2017 voter and both hold a hawkish bias.”