- What happened last week?
The most important developments in the American economy last week were the strong jobs data and the U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.
On Thursday, President Trump formally ordered new tariffs on steel and aluminum imported into the U.S. In a ceremony at the White House, Trump signed separate proclamations imposing a 25 percent tariff on imported steel and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum imports.
'It's really an assault on our country,” Trump said in remarks about the amount of steel and aluminum imported into the U.S. before he signed the orders.
Currently, about 90 percent of aluminum used in American manufacturing is imported as well as one-third of steel. Industry groups believe consumers will face the brunt of the impact from the tariffs through increased prices for items ranging from beer to cars as well as thousands of other items built from the two metals or packaged inside them.
- Strong jobs data
The American economy added 313,000 jobs in February -- the highest monthly increase since July 2016. The market expectation for the data was an addition of 205,000.
The jobs data for January was revised up to 239,000 from 200,000, and for December it was adjusted up to 175,000 from 160,000. This resulted in an increase in the last three-month average to 242,000 for non-farm payrolls.
The U.S. stock market closed with a rally on Friday with strong jobs data. The three major indexes increased more than 1.7 percent on Friday alone.
While the Dow Jones rose 3.3 percent last week, the S&P 500 gained 3.5 percent, and the Nasdaq increased 4.2 percent on a weekly basis.
Crude oil prices also jumped more than 3 percent on Friday. At the final bell, international benchmark Brent crude was up 3.1 percent to trade at $65.51 a barrel, and American benchmark West Texas Intermediate traded at $62.02 per barrel -- a 3.2 percent gain.
- Moody's downgrades Turkey's rating, outlook stable
Moody's downgraded Turkey's sovereign rating to 'Ba2' from 'Ba1', and changed its outlook to ‘stable’ from ‘negative’, the global rating agency announced Wednesday.
The downgrade of Turkey's rating was driven by two key developments, according to Moody's. The first is the continued loss of institutional strength, further weakness in monetary policy, and delays in implementing core structural economic reforms. The second is the increased risk of an external shock based on Turkey's wide current account deficits and higher external debt.
The reason for changing the outlook to stable derives from the country's economic and fiscal strengths, mostly based on Turkey's large and dynamic economy and favorable government debt metrics, Moody's said.
The rating agency said Turkey's rating would be revised up if there are structural reductions in vulnerabilities, such as if a significant and sustained narrowing is observed in the country's current account deficit.
- What to expect this week?
Investors will closely watch important data that will be released this week such as the Producers Price Index (PPI), Consumer Price Index (CPI) and retail sales.
PPI for February will be released on Tuesday. Wednesday will see the release of CPI for February and February’s Retail sales.
It will also be a busy week for the global oil market.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will release its monthly oil market report on Wednesday. The report will show the oil output change in heavyweight Saudi Arabia and rest of the cartel's members.
The International Energy Agency will release its monthly report on Thursday. The report will include the current global oil demand and supply, as well as short and long-term projections.
The U.S.' Energy Information Agency will announce the weekly change in crude oil inventories and crude oil production on Wednesday. The change in the U.S.' oil rig count will be out on Friday.