Economic news was largely negative for the week as new releases on housing starts and consumer spending fell below analyst estimates. Fourth quarter GDP was revised down 0.4% to a 2.2% annualized pace, bringing the 2018 GDP growth rate to 3%. In other market news, SOFR was relatively well behaved at quarter-end, when compared to the dislocations that took place at the turn of the year. The SOFR volume weighted median for March 29th was reported to be 2.65% on roughly $900 billion in volume, a 22 basis point increase in rate from the day prior.
Market participants will be looking forward to updated figures on retail sales, construction spending, the ISM manufacturing index and the March jobs report. U.S. and Chinese trade officials meet in Washington this week to continue trade negotiations.