The Week Ahead: Investors will focus on jobs

This holiday shortened trading week’s main highlight will be the biggest report of the month – the May Employment Report.

That will be released on Friday before the market opens.

The Thomson Reuters estimate is for 185,000 nonfarm jobs to be added to payrolls in May, which would be an increase of 21,000 over the April report.

While it would be an improvement over April, it would be below the average of 208,000 jobs added during the prior three months.

The unemployment rate is expected to stay at 3.9 percent.

As traders return to work on Tuesday, they’ll have a couple of reports to dissect.

One is the S&P Case-Shiller report on home prices. The other is consumer confidence.

Earnings are also due from HP and Salesforce.com.

On Wednesday, the first of this week’s employment-related reports will be released in the form of the ADP report on private sector hiring.

The government will also release the second reading on first quarter GDP.

The Fed will also release the Beige Book, reporting on economic conditions in the various Fed districts.

Earnings will be released by Chico’s FAS, Dick’s Sporting Goods, DSW and Michael Kors.

Thursday will be a big day for data.  Reports on Initial jobless claims,  personal income & spending and pending home sales will be released.

Retail earnings are due from Dollar General and Dollar Tree.