Unemployment data: The big event of the week is the July employment report, due Friday. Economists expect the pace of job losses to slow, with Barclays Capital predicting a decline of 275,000 positions, which would be the fewest since August and well below June’s 467,000. The consensus of economists is for the jobless rate to tick up to 9.6 percent, from June’s 9.5 percent.
Strong July: Stocks finished a strong July on Friday, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 index recording a 7.4 percent gain for the month. Although the week is full of economic data, there may be some marking of time until Friday’s employment report.
More earnings: The second-quarter earnings flood slows, with well over half the S&P 500 companies having checked in — with about three-quarters of them topping analyst expectations. This week brings reports from several big Illinois firms, including Archer Daniels Midland and Kraft Foods on Tuesday and Allstate on Wednesday.
Manufacturing sector: Manufacturing has taken a beating, but things have been looking up a bit in recent months. Further improvement is expected in Monday’s report on the July Institute for Supply Management index: Economists expect a reading of 47, which still indicates contraction, but would be sharply higher than the 40.1 posted as recently as April.
Car sales: The cash-for-clunkers plan led to a rush on showrooms at the end of July, which economists expect will translate into higher vehicle sales when data are reported Monday.
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