Business Week Index

THE WEEK AHEAD

FEDERAL BUDGET

Monday, Feb. 23, 2 p.m. EST -- The Treasury Dept. will probably announce a

surplus of $22 billion in January, says the median forecast of economists

surveyed by Standard & Poor's MMS, a unit of The McGraw-Hill Companies. That's

bigger than the $13.4 billion windfall of January, 1997. The Clinton

Administration has predicted a $10 billion surplus for fiscal 1998.

HUMPHREY-HAWKINS TESTIMONY

Tuesday, Feb. 24 -- Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan will give his

semiannual testimony on monetary policy and the economic outlook before the

House of Representatives. He is scheduled to repeat his testimony before the

Senate on Feb. 25.

CONSUMER PRICE INDEX

Tuesday, Feb. 24, 8:30 a.m. EST -- Consumer prices of all goods and services

probably increased by just 0.1% in January, says the MMS forecast, the same as

in December. Excluding food and energy, core prices likely rose 0.2%, also as

in December. Beginning with this report, the Labor Dept. will introduce a new

geographic-area sample, revised categories, and updated expenditure weights.

CONSUMER CONFIDENCE

Tuesday, Feb. 24, 10 a.m. EST -- The Conference Board's index of consumer

confidence likely rebounded to 129.5 in February, after falling nine points in

January, to 127.3.

DURABLE GOODS ORDERS

Thursday, Feb. 26, 8:30 a.m. EST -- New orders for durable goods probably

increased 1% in January, after a drop in transportation equipment bookings led

a 6.1% plunge in December orders.

GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT

Friday, Feb. 27, 8:30 a.m. EST -- The MMS median forecast expects only a small

revision in economic growth in the fourth quarter. Real GDP likely grew at a

4.1% annual rate, instead of the 4.3% pace reported by the Commerce Dept. a

month ago.