http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14544042/Updated: 7:58 p.m. ET Aug. 27, 2006
NEW YORK - Wall Street this week will get data it has craved to help get a better handle on the economy and whether it has pulled back further than policy-makers wanted.
Over the next five days, some two dozen economic reports will be released — including consumer confidence, job growth and manufacturing figures. Investors might even get a better clue about what Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke thinks of interest rates when minutes from the last Fed meeting are released.
These readings might help give Wall Street the guidance it has been clamoring for, especially after last week’s lackluster performance. But the real question is, how many people will be around to trade on the news? This is, after all, the last week of August.
“I looked up the word doldrums in the dictionary, and there’s no coincidence it comes from the word dull,” David Darst, chief investment strategist of Morgan Stanley’s global wealth management group, said Friday. “You might see some kind of fluctuation next week with these reports, but people will come back to work after Labor Day and sort through everything that’s gone on. That’s when you’ll see volume go up.”