3 Economic Events That Could Affect Your Portfolio This Week, September 4-8, 2023

After an eventful last week, this holiday-shortened week is light on incoming data. However, the data-dependent Federal Reserve analyzes all economic reports to discern trends and build a solid factual basis for its policy decisions. Therefore, reports outside of the “most-impactful” short list deserve investors’ attention, too, since they help the policymakers to connect the dots in their assessment of the economy’s health.

Here are three economic events that could affect your portfolio this week. For a full listing of all upcoming economic events, check out the TipRanks Economic Calendar.

» July’s Factory Orders – Tuesday, 9/5 – this report, released by U.S. Census Bureau, measures total orders (including durable and non-durable goods) from manufacturers. Thus, this report provides an insight into the trends within the manufacturing sector. The report also serves as one of the leading indicators for the overall economy, as it reflects vendors’ outlook for the consumer demand for manufactured goods.

» August’s ISM Services PMI – Wednesday, 9/6 – The Institute for Supply Management’s (ISM) Services Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) provides a detailed view of the services sector of the U.S. economy. Since services are responsible for almost 80% of GDP, the PMI can help give important insights into the direction of the economy, serving as a leading indicator for economists and policymakers.

» Q2 2023 Non-Farm Productivity and Unit Labor Costs – Friday, 9/8 – The Productivity report measures output per hour of labor. Since higher labor productivity leads to healthier business activity, i.e., higher economic growth, the report helps discern near-term, as well are long-term, GDP growth trends. The Unit Labor Costs report reflects the price of a unit of production in terms of wages and helps uncover inflationary or disinflationary pressures coming from wages.