This Week: Beige book, Kroger earns, jobs report

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

ECONOMIC SNAPSHOT

The Federal Reserve issues a report on business conditions across the U.S. on Wednesday.

The so-called “beige book” is a snapshot of how businesses are doing in the Fed’s 12 regional bank districts. Last month’s report found that the economy was growing modestly at the end of 2021, but was being held back by ongoing supply-chain disruptions and labor shortages. The report will form the basis for discussions at the Fed’s upcoming meeting of policymakers.

SPOTLIGHT ON KROGER

Wall Street expects that Kroger’s latest quarterly report card will show mixed results.

Analysts predict that the supermarket chain’s fiscal fourth-quarter earnings declined and its revenue rose compared with the same quarter a year earlier. That would follow two straight quarters of earnings growth. Kroger has largely benefited from Americans stocking their shelves and dining at home more during the pandemic. The company serves up its latest quarterly snapshot Thursday.

ALL ABOUT JOBS

Economists predict hiring in the U.S. slowed in February for the fourth straight month.

The Labor Department is expected to report Friday that nonfarm employers added 400,000 jobs in February. That would be down from 467,000 in January. While the pace of hiring has slowed since employers added 677,000 jobs in October, the nation’s unemployment rate has remained low, inching up to 4% in January from 3.9% in December.

Nonfarm payrolls, monthly change, seasonally adjusted:

Sept. 424,000

Oct. 677,000

Nov. 647,000

Dec. 510,000

Jan. 467,000

Feb. (est.) 400,000

Source: FactSet