Markets on Edge Ahead of Jobs and Inflation Reports

Investors are looking for clarity after recent data surprises

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Tuesday told the Senate Banking Committee that getting inflation back to the central bank’s 2% target has “a long way to go and is likely to be bumpy.” Photo: Al Drago/Bloomberg

U.S. financial markets are limping into a crucial period, with analysts warning about the potential for key economic releases to deliver a further blow to investors’ early-year optimism.

Stocks and bonds have slipped recently ahead of reports on nonfarm employment on Friday and the consumer-price index on Tuesday. Investors are eagerly, and nervously, looking forward to those reports because of a string of data last month that suggested that the economy was much stronger, and inflation much higher, than most had previously thought.

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