[Deborah Marchini, Cnn Anchor:] In just a few hours we're going to get a handle on how Americans are earning, spending and saving.
[David Haffenreffer, Cnn Anchor:] If they're saving at all these days. Here now with details on that data is Christine Romans.
[Christine Romans, Cnn Correspondent:] More numbers to crunch. And it's been so interesting after yesterdays numbers. At the end of the day, the market was able to, really, I don't know, rationalize it a little bit, and you saw only a modest Dow loss and actually a Nasdaq rally. So yesterday's data was very, very important, in terms of psychology in these markets. We're going to get more data today, and it almost looks as if it's going to take on heightened importance all of the data today, because they're looking to see whether it confirms or contradicts what we heard yesterday. And what we heard yesterday, of course, is that the U.S. economy continues at a very robust pace. And there are some signs there of inflation broadening out beyond just the oil sector. What we get today is data on earning and spending. Among them, personal income, it is expected for the month of March to increase six-tenths of a percent, and consumption is expected also up six- tenths of a percent. The Bridge Survey has it up five-tenth of a percent, but the Reuters poll has it up six-tenth of a percent. So we're looking for about an equal gain in income and spending there for the month of March. Now, there's other data that comes out as well, more minor data, all for the month of April, including the New York National Association of Purchasing Management Survey, this is a smaller regional survey that is seen, sort of, as a precursor. It gives people an idea of what might be coming up for the national report. There's the Chicago Purchasing Management Index, it's just like that New York one, but only for Chicago. And the University of Michigan Sentiment Index, this is going to be a final reading for April on that one and the last time we heard 110.2. Some are looking for maybe that one to pull back just a little bit. But what they're going to be looking for, obviously, are more signs of inflation, particularly in that Chicago PMI; there is a price component in that one. Oil prices have come off just a little bit from the last time this report was taken, so maybe it will pull back. But it is interesting. You look at what some of the expectations are for the Prices Paid Index, of that Chicago Purchasing Managers Index, and J.P. Morgan has an expectation for 72, a pullback because of the lower oil prices. But they know anything over 50 on the index signals more prices going up than down; 72 is quite a bit over 50.
[Marchini:] Oh yes, quite a bit. And that's the big concern here, because the Chicago Purchasing Managers is a pretty good predictor of the National Association of Purchasing Management. And that prices paid component will be the first look at prices in April, right?
[Romans:] Exactly. And, remember, this is all going to go into what people think about May 16. We've got more and more people now saying 50. We talked about this yesterday. The data if the data supports it, more people are going to start thinking 50, as opposed to 25. And even J.P. Morgan, Merrill Lynch, both raised their expectations for May 16 yesterday to 50.
[Haffenreffer:] All right, Christine, thanks very much.