US economy

First Day for Goldman’s New C.E.O., and Job Numbers Come Out


Here’s what to expect in the week ahead:

BANKING

Goldman Sachs will enter a new era on Monday, as David M. Solomon takes the reins. He succeeds Lloyd C. Blankfein, who led the firm for 12 years and steered it through the financial crisis. Since Mr. Solomon was named Goldman’s ninth chief executive this summer, he has begun to put his management team in place. In September, the firm announced that John E. Waldron, the co-head of investment banking, would be president and chief operating officer, and Stephen M. Scherr, who runs the firm’s consumer bank, would be promoted to chief financial officer. Over all, the bank’s strategy, which Mr. Solomon helped devise a year ago as co-president, is not expected to change radically. One area he has indicated he wants to improve: the number of women the bank hires and promotes.

— Stephen Grocer


ECONOMY

Eurozone ministers on Monday will discuss growth and jobs as well as exchange-rate developments in preparation for meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the Group of 20 countries in Bali, Indonesia, in October.

A broader group of ministers from the European Union will also be discussing reform of the European Stability Fund. The Eurogroup must agree on a term sheet for development by December.

— Amie Tsang


Auto INDUSTRY

Automakers are expected to show continued resilience on Tuesday, when they release figures for new vehicle sales for September. Auto sales reached a peak in 2016 of 17.6 million. While sales have since slowed, Edmunds forecasts that sales were on pace in September to end the year at 17 million. Although the pace was higher in September 2017, that was largely because of car buyers replacing vehicles damaged in Hurricane Harvey. Edmunds projects few sales of vehicles to replace those damaged by Hurricane Florence in the Carolinas. Still, it said, manufacturers’ incentives to make room for new models helped keep sales robust this past month.

— Matthew Sedacca


ECONOMY

American employers have added jobs for 95 consecutive months. September almost certainly was the 96th, extending what was already the longest streak on record to a full eight years. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch expect the jobs report, due Friday from the Labor Department, to show that payrolls grew by 168,000 in September. That would be a modest slowdown from the gain of 201,000 jobs posted in August but might still be enough to push the unemployment rate down to 3.8 percent for the first time since May. (Before that, the unemployment rate hadn’t been that low since 2000.) Economists will once again keep a close eye on wage growth, which has been picking up in recent months after a long period of sluggishness. A big gain would be good news for workers frustrated by meager raises, but might worry officials at the Federal Reserve, who are watching for signs of accelerating inflation. The data on Friday, however, could be muddled by the impact of Hurricane Florence, which struck the Carolinas in the middle of the month.

— Ben Casselman



READ SOURCE

Leave a Reply

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you accept our use of cookies.