Broadcom, US employment and Beijing's goals: what investors need to know this week

The key macroeconomic publication of this week is the February US jobs report: the Fed uses labor market data to guide its interest rate decisions. For the first time since September 2025, they will be released on schedule. In Europe, investors' attention will be focused on inflation data in the eurozone, and in Asia - on the annual session of the Chinese parliament, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Wall Street reporting season is almost over. Only about 30 companies in the S&P 500 index will report financial results in March, but this week several heavyweights will reveal earnings. With Nvidia's strong performance failing to quell investor concerns about the risks to traditional business models from artificial intelligence, this week's report from chip maker Broadcom will be the most important for Wall Street, according to Yahoo Finance. In addition, CrowdStrike, Target and Costco will share their quarterly results.

On Monday, March 2, the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) will publish an index of business activity in the U.S. manufacturing sector for February. The consensus forecast suggests a value of 51.8 points - a point lower than in January, writes Barron's.

In the eurozone, data on business activity (PMI) in the manufacturing sector will be released.

Norwegian Cruise Line and Venture Global will report quarterly results.

On Tuesday, March 3, Eurostat will publish the preliminary consumer price index (CPI) for February.

Best Buy, CrowdStrike Holdings, Target and Thales will disclose financial results.

On Wednesday, March 4, ISM will publish the index of business activity in the U.S. services sector for February. The index is expected to be 53.8 points, which is the same as in January.

The Fed will release the "Beige Book" - for the second time out of eight planned this year. The document accumulates data on current economic conditions from the regulator's 12 regional banks.

In the eurozone, data on business activity in services and unemployment for January will be released.

Broadcom, Adidas and Bayer will report earnings for the quarter.

The annual meeting of China's top advisory body, the National People's Congress, will open on Thursday, March 5. At the meeting, the Chinese authorities are expected to announce economic targets for 2026, including GDP growth rates. According to ING's forecast, Beijing will lower its economic growth target to "above 4.5%" from "around 5%" in previous years, WSJ reported.

Costco Wholesale, Gap, JD.com, Kroger, Marvell Technology and Merck will disclose quarterly earnings.

On Friday, March 6, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) of the U.S. Department of Labor will publish a report on non-farm employment in the country for February. Economists on average forecast a slowdown in job growth to 60 thousand from 130 thousand in January with unemployment remaining at 4.3%, Barron's writes.

Amid uncertainty surrounding an interest rate cut in the US, investors want to understand whether the unexpectedly strong January employment data was a one-off phenomenon. "In our view, it will take quite a bit of effort to get the Fed to think about an imminent rate cut," the WSJ quoted an ING note to clients as saying. The investment bank doesn't expect a cut until June at the earliest, and Wall Street doesn't expect one until July at the earliest.

Eurostat will release final eurozone GDP and employment data for the fourth quarter of 2025.

Lufthansa will report last quarter.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor