Occidental Petroleum earns, consumer prices, jobless claims

A look at some of the key business events and economic indicators upcoming this week:

PUMPED UP

Occidental Petroleum reports its first-quarter results Tuesday.

Wall Street expects the oil and gas company returned to a profit in the January-March period thanks to strong revenue growth. Rising energy prices over the past year and in the months since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have helped boost oil and gas company profits. So far this year, the price of U.S. crude oil has risen about 50% to roughly $109 per barrel, while natural gas is up 70%.

EYE ON INFLATION

The Labor Department serves up its latest monthly reading of inflation at the consumer level Wednesday.

Prices for U.S. consumers jumped 8.5% in March from a year earlier, the sharpest spike since 1981. Economists predict the consumer price index eased to 8.1% in the 12 months ended in April. That would mark the first annual decline in the index since August. The Federal Reserve has begun raising interest rates aggressively to try to tame inflation.

Consumer price index, annual percent change, not seasonally adjusted:

Nov. 6.8

Dec. 7.0

Jan. 7.5

Feb. 7.9

March 8.5

April (est.) 8.1

Source: FactSet

UNEMPLOYMENT BAROMETER

The Labor Department issues its weekly tally of applications for unemployment benefits Thursday.

First-time applications for unemployment aid have been consistently below the pre-pandemic level of 225,000 a week for most of this year, even as the overall economy contracted. Jobless claims rose last week, but remain low by historical standards, reflecting a robust U.S. labor market. Economists predict jobless claims fell to 194,000 for the week ended May 6.

Initial jobless benefit claims, weekly, seasonally adjusted:

April 1: 168,000

April 8: 186,000

April 15: 185,000

April 22: 181,000

April 29: 200,000

May 6 (est.): 194,000

Source: FactSet