-What happened last week?
The rise of nonfarm payrolls, although falling short of expectations, was an important development last week in the U.S. economy.
The American economy added 164,000 jobs in the month of April, however, market expectations were 192,000 jobs additions, according to the U.S. Department of Labor on Friday.
Jobs additions for March were revised up to 135,000 from 103,000, but for February revised down to 324,000 from 326,000. This brought the past three-month average jobs additions to 208,000.
The unemployment rate in the U.S. fell to 3.9 percent in April, falling below the mark of 4 percent for the first time since December 2000.
-Fed keeps interest rate unchanged
The U.S. Federal Reserve announced Wednesday that it will maintain a target benchmark interest rate range of 1.5 percent to 1.75 percent. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) said in a statement its members unanimously voted to keep the interest rate unchanged.
The labor market has continued to strengthen and economic activity has been rising at a moderate rate, the Fed said. It added that job gains have been strong and the unemployment rate has stayed low.
The inflation rate, on the other hand, has moved closer to the Fed's 2 percent target, the statement said. This increases the possibility of a rate hike in the next meeting on June 12-13, according to experts.
The central bank last increased its benchmark interest rate on March 21. The bank made a total of six rate hikes since December 2015, three of them last year.
-Apple's iPhone sales plummet from last quarter
Apple announced Tuesday in its financial statement that total sales of iPhone models during the January-March period dropped 32 percent to 52.2 million units from 77.3 million units in the October-December period last year.
Apple introduced the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus on Sept. 22 last year, and its most expensive smartphone, the iPhone X, on Nov. 3.
Revenue from total iPhone sales fell 38 percent to $38 billion from $61.6 billion during the period.
However, during the January-March period this year, Apple saw its net income rise 15.5 percent year-on-year to $61.1 billion while revenue jumped 25.5 percent to $13.8 billion.
Apple shares climbed 4.3 percent in after-hours trading Tuesday due to an increase in net income and revenue year-over-year. This trend continued for the rest of the week.
-Apple shares hit record-high
Following comments by American billionaire investor Warren Buffett, Apple saw its share value hit a record high. Buffett, who is the CEO of holding conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway, revealed late Thursday that the company purchased 75 million Apple shares in the first quarter of this year.
Apple’s stock price climbed to an all-time high of $184.25 per share, shortly before the U.S. stock market closing.
The firm also added around $37 billion to its market value, which reached $933 billion on Friday, from $896 billion on Thursday.
Berkshire Hathaway's Apple shares are worth approximately $44 billion based on Apple’s current stock price. The company had around 165 million Apple shares at the end of last year.
-S&P lowers Turkey's rating, outlook stable
Global credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's announced the lowering of Turkey's credit rating on Tuesday. The agency cut the country’s foreign currency sovereign credit rating to 'BB-/B' from 'BB/B' but with a stable outlook.
"We are downgrading Turkey because of what we view as increasing macroeconomic imbalances," the agency said in a statement. "In this context, the downgrade reflects our concerns over a deteriorating inflation outlook and the long-term depreciation and volatility of Turkey's exchange rate," it added.
The agency warned that Turkey's rating could be lowered again if external financing conditions and the exchange rate deteriorate further and if vulnerabilities in Turkey's private sector increase.
S&P said Turkey's rating could be raised if the central bank brings the inflation level within its 5 percent target range and if Turkey's external position sees sustainable improvement.
The agency said the next scheduled publication on Turkey’s sovereign rating would be Aug. 17, 2018.
-U.S. crude output rises 15 times in past 16 weeks
The U.S.' crude oil production increased last week for the 15th time in the past 16 weeks, according to the country's Energy Information Administration (EIA) data on Wednesday.
The EIA data showed that crude oil output rose by 33,000 barrels per day (bpd) to reach 10.62 million bpd for the week ending April 27. Production of crude oil rose by 8,000 bpd to 509,000 bpd in the state of Alaska, and increased by 25,000 bpd to 10.11 million bpd in the rest of the country, according to the data.
Commercial crude oil inventories rose by 6.2 million barrels, or 1.4 percent, to 436 million barrels for the week ending April 27, according to EIA data.
-Number of oil rigs in rises this week
The number of oil rigs in the U.S. increased by nine this week, according to oilfield services company Baker Hughes data released on Friday.
The oil rig count in the country rose to 834 for the week ending May 4, from 825 the previous week, the data showed.
This marked the 13th weekly increase in the number of oil rigs in the past 15 weeks.
-What to expect this week?
Investors will focus on Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Producer Price Index (PPI) that will be released this week.
PPI for April will be out on Wednesday, while CPI for April will be announced on Thursday.
On Thursday, initial jobless claims will be released, and on Friday the University of Michigan Consumer Index will be out.
The EIA will announce the weekly change in its crude oil stocks and inventories on Wednesday, while changes to the number of oil rigs in the U.S. will be released on Thursday.
A number of Federal Open Market Committee officials will make statements this week.
Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic will talk both on Monday and Wednesday.
On Monday, Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin will make a speech, while Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan and Chicago Fed President Charles Evans are due to speak on the same day.
