The Week Ahead: August Jobs Report Takes Center Stage

Next week brings another wave of key economic data ahead of the Federal Reserve's Sept. 15-16 policy meeting, with Friday's August jobs report headlining a calendar packed with big-ticket earnings. Investors will be parsing each release for clues on the size of the Fed's next rate cut, with ISM's manufacturing and services surveys, the JOLTS report, and the ADP employment reading all dropping before the week's end.

On the earnings front, Argan (NYSE: AGX), Broadcom (NASDAQ: AVGO), Dell Technologies (NYSE: DELL), Five Below (NASDAQ: FIVE), GitLab (NASDAQ: GTLB), Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE: HPE), lululemon athletica (NASDAQ: LULU), NetApp (NASDAQ: NTAP), Ollie's Bargain Outlet (NASDAQ: OLLI), Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW), Planet Labs (NYSE: PL), PVH (NYSE: PVH), Samsara (NYSE: IOT), Science Applications International (NASDAQ: SAIC), Victoria's Secret (NYSE: VSXY), and Zscaler (NASDAQ: ZS) will all report results.

Below is the schedule of key market events for the week ahead. All economic dates are tentative and subject to change.

Monday, August 31, is quiet on the data front, with no major U.S. economic reports scheduled.

Tuesday, September 1, brings the U.S. Manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) and ISM Manufacturing PMI for August, along with July construction spending and the JOLTS Job Openings & Labor Turnover Survey.

Wednesday, September 2, features the ADP National Employment Report for August and July factory orders. The Federal Reserve's Beige Book is also due out.

Thursday, September 3, brings the U.S. trade balance for July, weekly jobless claims, the ISM Services PMI for August, and the ISM Report on Business Services PMI. Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Beth Hammack and Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Austan Goolsbee are also scheduled to deliver remarks at an online event. 

Friday, September 4, rounds out the week with the highly-anticipated August Employment Report, the unemployment rate, average hourly earnings month-over-month, and average hourly earnings year-over-year.