Traders and market participants will weigh a series of U.S. economic releases and Federal Reserve commentary on Monday, May 4, 2026. The calendar is concentrated around manufacturing-sector indicators early in the day and a midday speech by a key Fed official, each of which may influence perceptions about growth and monetary policy.
At 9:00 AM ET the Bureau of Economic Analysis will publish the Factory Orders report, with the prior month recorded at 0.0%. This measure captures the change in the total value of new purchase orders placed with manufacturers and includes revisions to durable goods orders as well as newly reported figures on non-durable goods orders. The same 9:00 AM ET slot will also see related breakdowns:
- Factory Orders ex Transportation (Previous: 1.2%): This series excludes transportation-related orders and isolates manufacturing demand absent that often-volatile sector.
- Durables Excluding Transport (Previous: 0.9%): Tracks new orders for durable goods after removing the transportation component.
- Durables Excluding Defense (Forecast: -0.3%, Previous: -1.1%): Focuses on durable goods orders outside of defense-related spending, providing an indicator of civilian manufacturing demand.
Shortly after the manufacturing prints, the Treasury will conduct two short-term bill auctions. At 10:30 AM ET the results of the 3-Month Bill Auction and the 6-Month Bill Auction will be reported; the previous yields on these bills were both 3.590%.
At 11:50 AM ET, FOMC Member Williams will deliver public remarks. As president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, his comments are watched for signals about the Federal Reserve's thinking on monetary policy and for any insight into how recent data are being assessed by policymakers.
The afternoon schedule includes additional releases that round out the day's information set. At 1:00 PM ET the Loan Officer Survey will be published; this Federal Reserve survey canvasses domestic banks and foreign bank branches operating in the United States about changes in lending standards, terms, and loan demand from both firms and households. Also at 1:00 PM ET the government will report Total Vehicle Sales (Previous: 16.30M), the annualized figure for new vehicles sold domestically, which serves as a barometer of consumer spending and confidence.
The sequence of manufacturing indicators, Treasury bill auctions, a central-bank speech, and banking and auto-sector readings means market participants will have multiple inputs to reassess growth momentum, liquidity conditions, and credit dynamics as the trading week begins. Together, these releases touch on industrial demand, short-term funding markets, lending behavior at banks, and consumer-facing goods sales.
Investors are likely to parse both the headline factory orders numbers and the component breakdowns to distinguish whether any change in orders is broad-based or concentrated in volatile categories. Separately, the comparison between prior Treasury bill yields and auction results may offer a read on short-term funding conditions and investor appetite for government paper. Comments from FOMC Member Williams may provide additional texture on how policymakers are interpreting incoming data.
Given the clustering of data and events, market participants should expect fresh information across several economic channels that could be incorporated into trading and positioning decisions throughout the day.