Today is the busiest session of the week, with four major economic events and several big earnings announcements on the calendar.
European inflation, which comes out early in the session, has the potential to affect the euro and energy prices.
The first headline on this side of the Atlantic is ADP's private-sector payrolls report at 8:15 a.m. ET. Economists expect that 215,000 jobs were added in the month, up from 191,000 in March. The preliminary estimate of first-quarter gross domestic product follows at 8:30 a.m. and is forecast to show an increase of 1 percent.
The last big U.S. event is the Federal Reserve's monetary announcement at 2 p.m. ET. Interest rates are expected to remain unchanged, but economists believe that the pace of monthly bond purchases will be reduced to $45 billion from $55 billion.
Other data releases include weekly mortgage applications at 7 a.m. ET, the Chicago purchasing managers index at 8:30 a.m. ET, and crude-oil inventories at 10:30 a.m. ET. Chicago PMI is expected to come in at 56.5, compared with 55.9 last month. There are no forecasts for the other two.
Earnings will be announced in the morning by Time Warner, Actavis, Level 3 Communications, International Paper, and Cemex. JDS Uniphase, MetLife, Williams, Western Digital, Terex, and Yelp follow in the afternoon.
Tomorrow brings the Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing report, initial jobless claims and construction spending. ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, Cigna, MasterCard, and Teva Pharmaceutical announce in the morning, followed by Akamai Technologies, Expedia, Kraft Foods, Western Union, and Fluor after the closing bell.
The Labor Department's key non-farm payrolls report wraps up the week on Friday morning. Earnings are also due from Chevron, CVS Caremark, and Estee Lauder.
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.