Please stay tuned for important disclosure information at the conclusion of this episode. Hello and welcome to the Morning Filter.

I'm Susan Jubinsky with Morningstar.

Every Monday morning, I talk with Morningstar Research Services,

chief U.S. market strategist Dave Sikara,

about what investors should have on their radars,

some new Morning Star research,

and a few stock picks or pans for the week ahead. Well, good morning, Dave. We have a couple of important economic reports on radar this week, the March PCE and April payroll numbers.

So let's start with PCE. What's the market expecting and what would you expect the market to do if the number is better than expected or worse than expected?

Hey, good morning, Susan.

Well, first of all, let's just start off with if it comes out worse than expected.

I think that would actually be a very negative signal for the marketplace.

Essentially, if it's worse than expected, I think that would handcuff

the Fed from being able to ease monetary policy anytime soon. Now, if it's either in line or

even if it's better than expected, I don't think it really matters to the marketplace. At this point,

it's just near impossible to try and determine what future inflation is going to be over the next

few months or even the next

couple of quarters. Because really, at the end of the day, it's all just going to depend on what

happens with tariffs and trade negotiations as we move forward.

Now, we also have jobs numbers coming out this week. And, you know, in the past, we've seen,

you know, unexpected variances in these numbers can kind of jolt the markets. So what's your take

on what we'll hear on the jobs front this week? Well, the payroll's number is always a very high

profile economic metric, oftentimes depending on where it comes out, if it's higher or lower than

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