The Week Ahead

The supply of government bonds hitting the market has been increasing this year as budget deficits rise in the wake of the Republican tax cuts. At the same time, inflation concerns could prompt investors to ask for higher interest rates from Uncle Sam, when the Treasury auctions $21 billion in 10-year notes and $13 billion in 30-year bonds on Monday and Tuesday. Weak demand for Treasury debt at auction would push government borrowing costs up and could reverberate throughout financial markets.

— MATT PHILLIPS

Volkswagen’s management board will hold its annual news conference Tuesday in Berlin. Matthias Müller, the carmaker’s chief executive, will probably want to focus on new products like the Vizzion, a roomy battery-powered sedan that Volkswagen plans to begin selling in 2022. But reporters are sure to quiz him on less pleasant topics, like experiments on monkeys that Volkswagen and other German carmakers commissioned in a botched attempt to prove that diesel fumes are benign.

— JACK EWING

Last week’s jobs report showed strong hiring but sluggish wage growth. That cheered investors, who have been worried that the tightening labor market could lead to faster inflation. Still, those fears haven’t gone away. On Tuesday, investors will get another chance to weigh inflation risks when the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases data on consumer prices in February. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expect the report to show that inflation cooled a bit last month after picking up unexpectedly in January. Another surprise uptick could spook markets. Federal Reserve policymakers will be watching closely, too: Tuesday’s report will be one of the last major data releases before the central bank’s March meeting, Jerome Powell’s first as Fed chairman.

— BEN CASSELMAN

Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank, will be the keynote speaker at a gathering Wednesday in Frankfurt, Germany, of economists and analysts who specialize in monetary policy. In the past Draghi has used the annual conference, known as “The ECB and its Watchers,” to explain and justify central bank policy. Attention on the central bank is intense because of uncertainty about when it will end the bond purchases it has been using to hold down market interest rates and stimulate the eurozone economy.

— JACK EWING

The Census Bureau is scheduled to report February’s retail sales data Wednesday. Analysts are looking for consumer spending to bounce back after an unexpected slump in January. One area of weakness, however, could come in the auto sector where car companies showed signs of a slowdown last month.

— MICHAEL CORKERY