Spring is almost sprung with the vernal equinox arriving March 19, and many will be filling out their March Madness brackets trying to guess the winners. After last week’s CPI data showing the second straight month of inflation coming in hotter than expected, the consensus among those trying to forecast interest rates seems to be that the Federal Reserve won’t cut them before June. But investors hoping to have some luck left over from St. Patrick’s Day will still be keeping an eye on Fed Chair Jerome Powell when he makes his call this week, because you never know…
Economy
- Initial jobless claims data will be released March 21.
Washington
- On March 18, the House Financial Services Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee will hold a field hearing in Lebanon, Tenn., to discuss the effects of the SEC’s climate disclosure rule.
- On March 20, the House Financial Services Capital Markets Subcommittee will hold a hearing titled “SEC Overreach: Examining the Need for Reform.”
- The Federal Reserve will end its two-day meeting March 20 and announce its decision on interest rates.
Pension funds
- The CalPERS investment committee will meet March 18 to consider a new asset allocation that would boost private equity and private credit at the expense of stocks and bonds; its board will meet March 19 and 20.
- March 18 will mark 900 days without permanent leadership at the Florida State Board of Administration since the retirement of Ash Williams on Sept. 30, 2021. Gov. Ron DeSantis and his fellow trustees will meet March 20, but whether there will be an announcement regarding a replacement remains unknown.
- The State of Wisconsin Investment Board will meet March 19 and 20.
- The Pennsylvania Public School Employees' Retirement System will meet March 21 and 22.
Europe
- The European Union will report February CPI on March 18.
- U.K. CPI for last month will be released March 20.
- The Bank of England will announce its interest rate decision March 21,
- U.S. existing home sales numbers for February will come out March 21.
Asia
- The Reserve Bank of Australia will report its decision on where to set the benchmark interest rate on March 18.
- New Zealand fourth-quarter GDP will be announced March 20.
