Economic Edge: Week Ahead in Business
Sept. 27 -- A relatively quiet week gives way to a relatively busy one.
The main events are a manufacturing report on Wednesday and the September unemployment report on Friday.
Kozlowski/Tyco Trial at 9:30 a.m. ET: Former Tyco Chairman and CEO Dennis Kozlowski becomes the biggest fish caught in the wave of corporate scandals to go on trial. Jury selection gets under way Monday.
Kozlowski and former CFO Mark Swartz are accused of stealing $600 million from Tyco through various schemes, including unauthorized pay and loans and stock manipulation. The former lead outside auditor of Tyco, Richard Scalzo of PricewaterhouseCoopers, reportedly has agreed to testify against them.
Manufacturing report for September at 10 a.m. ET: Manufacturing has picked up over the past two months, after four months of contracting. This is good news for the people running the nation's factories. However, it hasn't been good news for factory workers. The ISM report tracks new orders, production and employment. It's shown a steady decline in jobs, matching the Labor Department's own figures. According to the government, manufacturing has lost 2,729,000 jobs since July 2000. There are new numbers out on Friday.
Bottom-line forecast: Manufacturing was flat in September.
Vehicle sales for September throughout the day.: August sales were by far the best of the year, reaching an unexpected annual pace of 18.9 million vehicles. Light trucks made up a record 56 percent of all sales. Foreign models showed particular strength, with the U.S. market share falling to a new low of only 59 percent. Toyota surpassed Chrysler as the third largest seller in the states.
Bottom-line forecast: Auto sales remain elevated because of incentives.
Unemployment report for September at 8:30 a.m. ET: The August report was a stunner. It was supposed to be the month the economy finally added jobs after six months of losses. Instead, non-farm payrolls dropped by a whopping 93,000 jobs. Economists are looking for another decrease for September, anywhere from 25,000 to 40,000 jobs.
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