High points for economic data scheduled for December 26 week

The December 26 week is a sleepy one, or it should be. The economic data calendar saw a pre-holiday rush to get the major reports out in the prior week. This coming week is pretty much second-tier data reports and things that can be shelved until after the New Year.

Monday is a federal holiday and full market close. Retailers will be open to clear out the remaining holiday merchandise quickly, but shoppers may find the shelves bare after pre-holiday discounts did much of the work already. Nonetheless, it is likely to be a good week for leisure and entertainment activities with many people on vacation and/or traveling.

The only thing that might surprise is the weekly jobless claims on Thursday at 8:30 ET. So far December has seen relatively light layoff activity as businesses hold onto the workers they have. Employers are reluctant to lose experienced people despite some threat of recession, or at least a period of very slow growth. We will see if there is a last-minute end-of-year surge or not. Probably not.

The calendar includes the last of the Fed district bank surveys of manufacturing and services. Those from the New York, Philadelphia, and Kansas City Feds are out and show that activity generally contracting in both sectors. The Dallas Fed manufacturing survey is set for release on Tuesday at 10:30 ET and the service sector survey is at 10:30 ET on Wednesday. The Richmond Fed’s surveys for manufacturing and services will both be reported at 10:00 ET on Wednesday.

It is interesting to observe that after the Great Recession we had what was often called a jobless expansion. In the post-pandemic period, we see to have a largely layoff-less slowdown.