Congress and Spending and Jobs—Advisor Briefing for the Week of May 2, 2011

This business week is bookended by the return of Congress from its spring break on Monday, with competing deficit reduction proposals top of mind, while the April jobs report will be released Friday. Perhaps the high point of the deficit doings will come during Wednesday’s scheduled hearings of the Senate Finance Committee featuring former Senator (and now UBS executive) Phil Gramm, while the bipartisan ‘Gang of Six’ current Senators may release its plan.

Q1 earnings season starts to wind down, while the advisor spring conference season heats up: following last week’s annual meetings of the IAA and the Advisors in Philanthropy, this week brings the annual FPA Retreat in Florida, May 3-6, the Raymond James annual conference in Las Vegas from May 2-5 and the ICI general meeting May 4-6 in Washington. Look for onsite reporting from all three conferences on AdvisorOne.

All times are Eastern.

Monday, May 2

10:00 AM:            ISM  manufacturing index for April, from Institute of Supply Management.

10:00 AM:            Construction spending for March from the Census Bureau.

2:00 PM:              U.S. House convenes.

2:00 PM:              U.S. Senate convenes for a period of morning business.

3:00 PM:              U.S. Treasury Dept. releases current estimates of what it will borrow for rest of year.

Tuesday, May 3

10:00 AM:            Factory orders for March, released by the Census Bureau.

10:00 AM:            Hearing on equitability of tax burdens and tax benefits, Senate Finance Committee.

TBD:                    Vehicle sales for April released by automakers.

Wednesday, May 4

8:15 AM:              Monthly national employment report from ADP.