This Week: Construction spending, Gap earns, jobs data

The Commerce Department issues its April snapshot of U.S. construction spending Monday

A look at some of the key business events and economic indicators upcoming this week:

EYE ON CONSTRUCTION

Economists project that U.S. construction spending fell sharply in April, stymied by efforts to curtail the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Commerce Department is expected to report Monday that spending on residential, commercial and government projects slid 6% in April as building activity slowed due to the economic fallout from the outbreak. That would follow a 0.9% gain in construction spending the previous month.

Construction spending, monthly percent change, seasonally adjusted:

Nov. 1.6

Dec. 0.4

Jan. 2.6

Feb. -2.5

March 0.9

April (est.) -6.0

Source: FactSet

NOT A GOOD LOOK

Gap serves up its fiscal first-quarter results Thursday.

Wall Street predicts the clothing chain will report that it slid to a loss in the February-April quarter and its revenue declined from a year earlier. Retailers have been hard-hit by the business shutdowns due to the coronavirus. In April, Gap said it had stopped paying rent in North America and elsewhere for stores that had closed and warned it might run out of cash without an infusion.

MORE JOB LOSSES SEEN

The economic fallout of the coronavirus is expected to have wiped out millions more U.S. jobs in May.

Economists predict the Labor Department will report Friday that 9 million jobs vanished in May. That would follow the loss of 20.5 million jobs in April, the worst monthly loss on record. The job losses, which pushed up the national unemployment rate to 14.7% in April, reflect what has become a severe recession caused by sudden business shutdowns in nearly every industry.

Nonfarm payrolls, monthly change, seasonally adjusted:

Dec. 184,000

Jan. 214,000

Feb. 251,000

March -881,000

April -20,537,000

May (est.) -9,000,000

Source: FactSet