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Interest Rates, Bernanke Speaks and Govt. Shutdown Looms—Advisor Briefing for the Week of April 4, 2011

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April 3, 2011 • Reprints

Following the report from the Labor Dept. on Friday, April 1, of another jump in jobs created and a decrease in the unemployment rate in March, this week brings a rash of interest rate decisions around the globe and the release of the FOMC minutes from March.

Friday, April 8 is the latest date for a possible government shutdown as the latest Congressional Continuing Resolution (CR) expires. Several groups are working on a budget fix, including a Republican initiative led by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) and the 'Gang of Six' senators who are working off President Obama's deficit reduction commission's recommendations.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke delivers a much-anticipated speech on Monday, the Senate is scheduled to take up repeal of what many consider the onerous new 1099 reporting requirements on Tuesday, while congressional hearings include a look at the role of the accounting profession in averting a future financial crisis.

All times are Eastern.

Monday, April 4

12:00 PM:       House of Representatives convenes.

2:00 PM:         U.S. Senate convenes for a period of morning business.

7:15 PM:        Fed Chairman Bernanke speaks at the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank Financial Markets Conference in Stone Mountain, Ga.

Tuesday, April 5

7:00 AM:         Bill Gates appears in Strasbourg, France, to discuss development issues and the experience of his Gates Foundation before the European Parliament’s Development Committee.

10:00 AM:      The Non-Manufacturing Index is released by the Institute for Supply Management.

11:00 AM:      The Senate convenes; first order of scheduled business: consideration of HR 4, which would repeal the $600 1099 reporting requirement.

2:00 PM:        March minutes of the FOMC meeting released by the Federal Reserve.

Wednesday, April 6

7:00 AM:         New mortgage applications released by Mortgage Bankers Assoc.

9:30 AM:         A hearing on the role of the accounting profession in preventing another financial crisis by the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance and Investment.

10:30 AM:      Weekly EIA Petroleum Status report from the U.S. Dept of Energy Information Administration.

3:00 PM:         A hearing on the state of community banking by the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection.

Thursday, April 7

7:00 AM:         Interest rate announcement from the Bank of England.

7:45 AM:         Interest rate announcement from the European Central Bank.

8:30 AM:         Weekly new unemployment insurance claims from the Labor Dept.

12:00 PM:       Interest rate announcement from the Bank of Japan.

3:00 PM:         Consumer credit report for February is released by the Federal Reserve.

Friday, April 8

8:00 AM           Dennis Lockhart, president of the Atlanta Fed, will speak at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville's Economics Forum.

10:00 AM:      February wholesale trade numbers released by the Census Bureau.

TBA:              The U.S. government faces a possible shutdown as the latest Congressional budget Continuing Resolution is due to expire..
 

About the Author
James J. Green, AdvisorOne

James J. Green, AdvisorOne

Jamie Green is Group Editorial Director of the Investment Advisory Group at Summit Business Media, with overall editorial responsibility for AdvisorOne.com, launched in October 2010, and Investment Advisor and Research magazines, monthly print magazines which have served advisors of all kinds for more than 30 years. He can be reached at jgreen@sbmedia.com

He has nearly 30 years experience in print and electronic journalism, with nearly 14 years covering the investment advisory industry. In the 1980s he was editor of Tele/Scope, a pioneering electronic news service based in New York that covered telecommunications business and research, and was editor of Telecommunications Research, a monthly journal. In the 1990s he worked for nine years at The New York Times, where he was editor of TimesFax, an electronic version of the newspaper of record now known as TimesDigest. While at The Times, he led the editorial team that expanded distribution of TimesFax to remote corners of every continent on Earth, to every ship in the U.S. Navy, to scores of cruise ships, and to the international space station.

He joined what was then Dow Jones Investment Advisor in 1999 as managing editor, was appointed Executive Editor of Investment Advisor magazine in 2000, Editor in 2002, Editor-in-Chief in 2005, and Editorial Director of Investment Advisor and Wealth Manager in 2008 before assuming his current position in 2009.

He holds a bachelor's degree in philosophy from St. Hyacinth College in Granby, Mass., and studied theology on the graduate level at St. Anthony-on-the-Hudson, Rensselaer, N.Y.

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