Big Week Ahead. Here’s An Overview.

Bolshevik leader V. I. Lenin said, “There are decades when nothing happens, and there are weeks where decades happen.” That’s a good quote to bear in mind this week. It will be one of the more news-packed weeks in recent memory, with headline-making events every day. Put on your crash helmets.

Here’s the rundown: On Monday, the Supreme Court will hand down rulings on recent cases that have been argued. It’s impossible to know in advance exactly what cases the Justices will decide (unless Justice Sotomayor decides to leak an opinion as she seems to have done in the Dobbs case in 2022), but it’s highly likely that the Supreme Court will decide a Colorado case involving an effort to kick Donald Trump off the ballot.

My expectation is that the court will rule the Colorado effort unconstitutional, probably by a 9-0 or perhaps 8-1 vote (thanks again, Justice Sotomayor). That should effectively reverse the Illinois and Maine decision to kick Trump off the ballot and similar efforts in at least twenty other states.

Tuesday is Super Tuesday, when 15 states and one territory hold presidential primaries. There’s not much suspense: Biden and Trump should win all the contests in their respective parties. The delegate haul will effectively clinch the nomination for both candidates, even if it does not quite put them over the top. Attention will turn immediately to speculation about the Republican VP selection and the head-to-head contest between Biden and Trump.

On Wednesday and Thursday, Fed Chair Jay Powell will testify before the House and Senate on current monetary conditions. He’s expected to pour cold water on hopes for early rate cuts, once again foiling the Wall Street “pivot” narrative. Wall Street has been wrong about the pivot for almost two years. They’ll get no help from Powell this week.

Thursday is also the State of the Union address. We’ll see if Biden can avoid confusing Ukraine with Gaza and Mexico with Egypt as he has done in recent weeks.

Wednesday brings the ADP National Employment Report for February, and Friday marks the release of the February employment report, one of the most closely watched economic indicators. Here’s an article that recaps some of this action and also expands the list to cover overseas developments. There are also wild cards in the deck that could happen at any time, such as a ruling on the motion to disqualify Fani Willis as prosecutor in the Georgia Trump election case.

Whew. Like I said, put on your crash helmets.

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