@ Wall Street
Equities wrapped up a miserable quarter with further declines on Friday. Although the German Parliament overwhelmingly endorsed the increased size and powers of the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF) on Thursday, events and contagion have moved on, and the expanded fund is already too small.
Domestically, the evidence suggests that third-quarter growth probably perked up slightly, going above 2%, helped by strong business equipment spending, but that's of little comfort. Plenty of signals are still pointing to heightened recession risks, and the dark clouds over Europe haven't dissipated.
New home sales dropped to near all-time lows in August, while consumer incomes fell, and consumer confidence remained at recessionary levels in September. The best news of the week was a surprising bounce in the Chicago PMI survey for September which gives some hope that the national ISM manufacturing index (due Monday) will remain above the breakeven 50 mark.
A weak September employment report (worse than August, despite a better headline figure) will be the highlight in the week ahead. Payroll numbers should be up, but only because of the addition of 45,000 Verizon workers returning from a strike. Construction spending for August is expected to be about flat with private spending up and public spending down.
Motor vehicle sales for September are expected to climb to a five-month high on pent-up demand for Japanese vehicles. Finally, the ISM nonmanufacturing index is expected to be down, but still above the 50 threshold.
@ The White House
In the morning, the President will receive the Presidential Daily Briefing in the Oval Office. The President will then meet with senior advisors.
Later in the morning, the President will hold a Cabinet Meeting in the Cabinet Room.
In the afternoon, the President will meet with the three student winners of the Google Science Fair. After, the President will meet with the U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of the Netherlands Fay Hartog Levin. This meeting is closed press.
