Forecasts for the Weeks of March 9 and 16

Here are my forecasts for upcoming economic data.
	Forecast	Prior Observation	Consensus
Week of March 9
March 10
JOLTS - January	5.065	5.028	5.075
NFIB Small Business Optimism Index - February	99.0	97.9	99.0
Wholesale Inventories - January	-0.2%	0.0	0.1
March 11
Treasury Budget - February	-$191.0B	-10.4	-186.5
March 12
Initial Unemployment Claims	295	313	309
Retail Sales - February	0.3%	-0.8	0.3
Retail Sales, ex Autos	0.4	-0.9	0.5
Export Prices - February	-0.6%	-2.9	-0.1
Import Prices	0.1	-2.8	0.2
Import Prices, Ex-Petroleum	-0.4	-0.6
Business Inventories - January	0.0%	-0.3	0.1
March 13
Producer Price Index - February	0.1%	-0.8	0.3
PPI Core	0.1	-0.3	0.1
Michigan Consumer Sentiment - March (p)	96.0	95.4	96.0
Week of March 16
March 16
NY Fed Manufacturing Index	9.0	7.78	7.25
Industrial Production - February	0.3%	0.3	0.3
Capacity Utilizaqtion	79.6	79.4	79.5
Manufacturing Output	0.2	0.2	0.3
NAHB Index - March	56	55	56
March 17
Housing Starts - February	1.060M	1.065	1.053
Building Permits	1.065	1.053	1.065
March 18
FOMC	0.125%	0.125	0.125
March 19
Initial Unemployment Claims
Current Account - Q4	-$104.5	-100.3	-101.2
Philadelphia Fed Suvery	8.0	5.2	5.5
Leading Indicators - February	0.2%	0.2	0.3
Peter Morici is a professor at the University of Maryland Smith School of Business, former Chief Economist at the U.S. International Trade Commission, and five-time winner of the MarketWatch best forecaster award.