The first full trading week in March was yet another consequential one for market participants. Whether you like to trade domestic stocks, foreign currencies or other equities, what happened this week will likely have an impact on both your short and long-term money management strategy.

The first major scheduled news announcement came on Monday with the release of the ISM Manufacturing PMI. It revealed that manufacturing came in at 50.3, which shows that the sector is in the midst of a minor expansion. The latest figure was slightly lower than the projected 50.6 and was also lower than last month’s reading of 50.9.

On Wednesday, the ISM Services PMI was released. As has become the norm over the past couple of years, services came in well above 50 with a February reading of 53.5. This was higher than the expected 52.5 and was also higher than last month’s 52.8.

Also on Wednesday, the ADP version of the nonfarm payroll report was made public. It found that there were 77,000 new jobs created in February compared to a projected 141,000. The result was also well below last month’s reading of 186,000. Tariffs and other indications of an economic slowdown are cited as reasons for the lack of hiring.

On Thursday, unemployment claim data was released. Over the past seven days, there were 221,000 claims for benefits, which was lower than the projected 234,000 applications. It was also lower than last week’s reading of 242,000.

Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) came out with its version of the nonfarm payroll report. It found that the economy added 151,000 jobs, which was slightly less than the 159,000 analysts expected. However, last month’s reading was revised lower to 125,000 new jobs. Therefore, it’s possible that February’s count will be revised as well next month.

Average hourly earnings were up .3 percent over the past month, which was in line with expectations. However, last month’s average hourly earnings were revised downward to .4 percent. The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.1 percent from 4 percent a month ago.

The S&P 500 continued its losing streak this week falling 3.5 percent to close at 5,770. The index is now sharply negative for the year having lost another 209 points over the past five trading days. On Monday, the market opened at 5,982, which was the weekly high. On Friday afternoon, the market made its low of the week at 5,676 before reversing and gaining some ground.

Like the S&P 500, the Dow also was a loser this week giving up 1,164 points to close at 42,801 at the end of the week. The market would make its high of the week on Monday morning when it started at 43,993 before reversing and trending down through Friday. On Friday morning, the market hit its low of 42,220.

Finally, Nasdaq also lost significant ground this week having closed off 3.73 percent since Monday. This represents a loss of 706 points for the index that finished at 18,196 at the end of the day Friday. As with the other indexes, the Nasdaq started the week at its highest point having opened at 18,932 on Monday morning. On Friday, the market would make its low of the week of 17,805.

Although tariffs were among the top international stories of the week, many nations were scheduled to release important data. For instance, Australia announced on Monday that retail sales were up .3 percent over the past month while the gross domestic product (GDP) was up .6 percent over the last quarter. On Friday, Canada announced that its unemployment rate remained steady at 6.6 percent while the economy grew by 1,100 jobs over the past month.

The upcoming week is likely going to be another interesting one as further tariffs could come into play. Inflation data is expected to be released on Wednesday while price change data will come out on Thursday. The JOLTS report as well as the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment report are other important data points to consider this week. International traders may be interested in the Bank of Canada (BOC) making an interest rate decision on Wednesday as well as GDP data coming from Great Britain Friday morning.

The final full week of February was an interesting one for investors. The main event for the week came on Friday when the Core PCE Price Index came in at .3 percent on a monthly basis. This matched expectations and was paired with a slight drop in prices on a yearly basis.

On an annual basis, the PCE index fell to 2.5 percent while the Core PCE index fell to 2.6 percent on an annual basis. The drop has restarted calls for the Federal Reserve to engage in further interest rate cuts at some point in 2025. The most likely scenario is a cut in both October and December, but there are also signs that cuts could begin as early as June if the inflation gauge ticks closer to 2 percent.

Another key finding was that personal income went up .9 percent in January while personal spending went down by .2 percent. This may be an indication that consumer sentiment has changed for the worse. However, some say that this is merely a sign that consumers stayed home in the face of bad weather.

The other important announcement came on Thursday in the form of the gross domestic product (GDP) for the last quarter of 2024. During that time, the economy grew by 2.3 percent, which was in line with expectations and was the same as the third quarter of 2024.

Unemployment claims for the past seven days were also made public on Thursday morning. For the past seven days, there were 242,000 requests for benefits compared to a projected 222,000 prior to the release.

The S&P 500 finished the week down 93 points to close at 5,954. For the month, the index was off about 2.5 percent and is marginally lower for the year as well. On Monday morning, the index opened at its high of 6,042 and spent the rest of the next five days trending lower. On Friday afternoon, the market made its weekly low of 5,850 before gaining some ground into the close of the week.

Unlike the S&P, the Dow finished the week in the black closing higher by 274 points. It closed the week at 43,840, which was an increase of .63 percent over the last five trading days. However, like the S&P, the Dow finished the month down 2.5 percent and has also traded sideways during the first two months of the calendar year. This week, the index made a high of 43,862 on Thursday morning while it made a low of 43,162 on Friday morning.

Finally, the Nasdaq was off 3.69 percent this week to close at 18,847. This was a drop of 721 points over the past five trading days, and it represented most of the 921 points that the index lost last month. For the week, the index made its high of the week at the open on Monday of 19,548 before reversing and spending most of the next five days in freefall. On Friday morning, the market hit its weekly low of 18,409 before making up some of its losses heading into the close.

In international news, Japan announced Thursday night that its core inflation reading was 2.2 percent on an annual basis compared to an expected 2.3 percent. On Tuesday, Australia announced that its inflation rate was also lower than expected, coming in at 2.5 percent instead of a projected 2.6 percent on an annual basis. On Sunday, New Zealand announced that its retail sales were up .9 percent for the previous quarter, which was roughly double what analysts had expected.

The upcoming week will surely be another interesting one as Trump engages in new economic battles with the leaders of Ukraine, China and Canada. We will also see the release of nonfarm payroll data from February as well as the ISM Manufacturing and ISM Services indexes. Australia will announce gross domestic product numbers from the previous quarter Tuesday night while the European Central Bank (ECB) will announce its latest rate decision early Thursday morning.