Coming up: June trade gap and jobless claims
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The government will issue reports on the June trade deficit and weekly jobless claims at 8:30 a.m. Eastern. Economists expect the trade gap to narrow for the second straight month in June to $47.5 billion from $48.7 billion in May. In the weekly jobless claims report, economists expect a 5,000 increase to 370,000 in the week ended Aug. 4 after a rise of 8,000 to 365,000 in the prior week. The Labor Department spokesman said last week that the recent period of volatility in the claims data is likely over. The level of claims – a rough gauge of whether layoffs are rising or falling – have bounced up and down in July because of temporary fluctuations in the number of auto workers.