This Week: Auto sales, Fed minutes, nonfarm payrolls
A look at some of the key business events and economic indicators upcoming this week:
AUTO SALES
Automakers release their latest tally of U.S. sales figures Tuesday.
A J.D. Power and LMC Automotive forecast calls for total vehicle sales in June to reach a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 16.9 million units. That would be up slightly from 16.7 million units a year earlier. New vehicle retail sales are projected to be down slightly from a year ago.
CLOSE-UP ON THE FED
The minutes from a recent meeting of Federal Reserve officials may offer insight into the Fed's interest rate policy.
During a two-day meeting in June, the central bank's policymakers raised the Fed's benchmark interest rate for the second time this year, citing the resilient U.S. economy. The panel also signaled it might step up its pace of rate increases. The Fed releases the minutes from that meeting Thursday.
ALL ABOUT JOBS
Economists predict hiring in the U.S. declined in June from the previous month.
They expect the Labor Department will report Friday that nonfarm employers added 190,000 jobs in June. That would be down from an increase of 223,000 in May. Solid job gains this year have helped pull down the nation's unemployment rate to 3.8 percent, close to the level last seen in 1969.
Nonfarm payrolls, monthly change, seasonally adjusted:
Jan. 176,000
Feb. 324,000
March 155,000
April 159,000
May 223,000
June (est.) 190,000
Source: FactSet