The Week Ahead

Eye on consumers

Confidence among U.S. consumers has hardly wavered this year, despite stock market swings and U.S. trade disputes.

The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index rose to 128.0 in May from a revised 125.6 in April. The business research group’s index hit 130.0 in February, the highest reading since November 2000. Economists project the index held steady in June. The Conference Board issues its latest consumer confidence index Tuesday.

Uneven quarter

Wall Street expects Bed Bath & Beyond’s latest quarterly report card will show mixed results.

Financial analysts predict the home goods retailer will report Wednesday that its fiscal first-quarter earnings declined from a year earlier, even as revenue edged higher. That would echo the company’s results for the 12 months that ended in February.

Blip or trend?

The Commerce Department delivers its final estimate of first-quarter economic growth Thursday. Economists project that the economy, as measured by the gross domestic product, grew at a 2.3 percent seasonally adjusted annual rate in the first quarter as consumers and businesses slowed their spending. That would be down from the previous three quarters, when the economy posted consecutive gains of around 3 percent.