New jobs data and trade to look for this week

I get occasionally asked by people "Where do you find your information?" A lot of it is just knowing when various reports come out. And there are some key ones that get released this week.

For example, on Thursday we will have the release of the "gold standard" Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) for September 2017. This will cover the September 2016 - September 2017 period, and Wisconsin has never been in the top half of this survey since Scott Walker,s first budget was passed in June 2011.

On Friday, we will see the release of the monthly US job reports for February. Low unemployment claims indicate that the many layoff announcements by corporations have yet to take effect. This is certainly the case in Wisconsin, as the hundreds of layoffs for Younkers and Sam's Club and Saputo Cheese won't happen until later this month and in April. But let's see if the job gains slow (indicating we may be at max employment) or if it accelerated (which would scare Wall Street into higher interest rates, especially if wage gains finally come with it).

Also worth keeping an eye on is the report on US trade balances, which will hit on Wednesday. With the recent news about Trump tariffs and our trade deficit rising to the highest levels in several years by the end of December, this report may get more than the typical mention.

There are plenty of other little things to keep your eyes open for during this week, in,between digging out from snow and watching hoops. Because as I like to say, I'm not really that smart, I just know where to find things.

If you can do the same, that's most of the battle when it comes to,responding to the onslaught of BS that is sent out on a daily basis by today's GOP.