The calendar: light on news but not on expectations

Even with the shorter week, trading was boosted last week by lower oil prices, somewhat more positive housing news, continuing buyout offers, and a strong employment number (including a revision to a weak February number). This allowed indexes to recover mildly, thus raising expectations for the second week of the new quarter. Finally, given Friday's nonfarm payrolls number (180,000 in March, above expectations of 142,000), one can expect traders will be more aware that a rate cut could indeed be further away than initially hoped.

The following is a brief overview of the economic calendar for the upcoming week:

April 11: (all times EST)

• Crude inventories (10:30 am)
• FOMC minutes (2:00 pm) - For March 21 meeting
• Treasury budget (2:00 pm)

April 12:

• Initial claims (8:30 am) - Market expects 320K versus 321K for the prior period

April 13:

• PPI (8:30 am) - Market expects 0.7% for March compared to 1.3% for February
• Core PPI (8:30 am) - Market expects 0.2% for March compared to 0.4% for February
• Michigan Sentiment (10:00 am) - Market expects 87.5 compared to 88.4 for the prior period