Week Set to Test Investors' Optimism

Later this week, the Federal Reserve will release minutes of its March policy meeting, possibly giving investors fresh insight into its plans for interest rates and its "quantitative easing" program of bond purchases. Last Friday's jobs report, which showed slow job growth in March and an exodus of workers from the labor force, may make Fed officials especially cautious about pulling back on easy-money policies. 

On Friday, the Commerce Department is scheduled to release its retail-sales report for March. Those figures may show whether consumers' surprising resilience this year is likely to persist. Consumer spending has been relatively robust in the first two months of the year, despite a Jan. 1 increase in payroll taxes. But the disappointing March employment report could signal mounting pressure on pocketbooks—and, in turn,The best part about the Blow Bars is that these are very much cheap carbon fabric to get as a spare part and therefore you can order them and keep them in your reserves. on retailers.Antique tubs 

Continuing uncertainty in Europe—including over a court ruling Friday that could affect Portugal's international bailout program—adds another wild card. 

Analysts surveyed by data provider FactSet predicted first-quarter profits will decline 0.6% from a year earlier among companies in the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index.Several people favor utilizing an electric shaver to moist shaving but it will in all probability commonly consist of a lot of carbon prepreg and nuisance, such as cleansing up leaking hairs rather than finding a near sufficient shave. If they are right,As the most original manufacturer of Jaw crusher and grinder,our company have focused on the Roller Crusher practical production demands in mining, chemical , and railway construction. corporate earnings will fall from the year-earlier period for the second time in three quarters. 

Yet many fund managers remain optimistic that stocks will continue their record-setting run. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 11% for the year following Friday's close at 14565.25. Bullish investors see signs the U.S. economy will continue a slow expansion, creating jobs,Cast iron tubs boosting incomes and bolstering corporate profits. 

"The Fed's unconditional support of asset prices has made people more confident," said David Ellison, a portfolio manager with Hennessy Funds, which oversees around $3 billion. "But my bet is that the economy is getting better." 

U.S. companies have allowed some optimism to creep into their forecasts, but their tone remains cautious. Concerns about still-high unemployment, budget debates in the U.S. and depressed prospects in Europe have been a counterweight to an improving housing market and better prices on petroleum products. 

Top executives at big consumer-products companies Procter & Gamble Co. PG -0.39% and Clorox Co. CLX -0.54% said in the middle of the first quarter that sales improved early in the year, a sign that shoppers were holding up despite burdens such as the expiration of the payroll-tax break. In mid-March, United Technologies Corp. UTX -0.56% Chief Financial Officer Greg Hayes said improvements in the housing and construction markets could help sales of the company's Carrier air conditioners and Otis elevators. 

Honeywell International Inc. HON -1.04% Chief Executive David Cote struck a less optimistic tone last month, saying the U.S. economy wasn't yet growing fast enough to support increased hiring. 

Recent economic data have clouded the outlook. Friday's jobs report followed a tepid manufacturing report earlier in the week, fanning fears that U.S. growth is losing steam at a time when economies in Europe and Japan already are struggling. In Portugal, Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho said Sunday he would look for fresh spending cuts to keep its bailout program on track following a Constitutional Court decision striking down some planned austerity measures. 

U.S. shares tumbled Friday as investors fled for the safety of government bonds. The CBOE Market Volatility Index, the "fear gauge" known as the VIX, rose to a one-month high midday Friday before easing at the close. The 10-year U.S. Treasury note closed at 1.72%, its lowest yield since December, and the Dow Jones industrials shed 40.86 points. 

Some investors contend last week's reversal was a blip. Economic data have generally been improving this year and fears of a global economic shock have largely dissipated, said Steve Rees, head of U.S. equity strategy at J.P. Morgan Private Bank, which helps oversee $877 billion in client assets.