Economic data focus turns to job openings, consumers’ credit use

Wall Street will eye fresh numbers beginning Monday tied to the services segment of the economy, job openings and consumer credit-card use.

The economic agenda is lighter next week, with the focus shifting away from Friday’s upbeat January data on job growth to the first look at how the non-manufacturing segment of the economy fared in the month.

Investors will also get a final look at Americans’ credit usage and the number of available jobs available at the nation’s employers in December.

The first key number is set for release Monday, when the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) releases its non-manufacturing survey for January. It is expected to show a slight uptick in the health of the nation’s services part of the economy. Wall Street analysts expect a survey reading of 56.5, a tad above 56 in December. Anything above 50 signifies growth.

On Tuesday, investors will be watching the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, known as the JOLTS report, for December in hopes of avoiding a third consecutive month of declines. In November, jobs openings fell to 5.88 million, down from 5.93 million in October and 6.18 million in September, Nomura Securities says.

On Wednesday, Wall Street expects consumers’ use of credit cards to show continued health in December, although below the $28 billion in credit they took on in November. Analysts are forecasting credit of $19.7 billion, boosted by a healthy consumer benefiting from a positive job market and stock market.

“Rising household financial gains combined with healthy labor market conditions should support another robust increase in consumer credit in December,” Lewis Alexander, economist at Nomura, said in a research note.

More data related to the job market is set for release Thursday when the weekly report on the number of Americans filing for first-time unemployment benefits is released. In the most recent week, the number of claims ticked down to 230,000, which was below the

235,000 analysts had forecast. Following Friday’s strong jobs report, when a better-than-expected 200,000 jobs were created in January, more good labor data is expected. “Our view,” Alexander says, “is that the labor market will strengthen further this year.”

Overall, he sees the current strong economic trends in the U.S. to continue.

“We expect fiscal policy, financial conditions and firming global outlook to support strong economic growth of

2.7% in 2018,” Alexander noted.