Sunday, July 6, 2008

After last week's big jobs report, settle in for a quiet week of readings on the economy. More interesting than any data this week may be congressional testimony by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr., who will explain to the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday how they think financial regulations should be changed. Expect both to advocate a more explicit role for the Fed in trying to prevent financial crises. Among the data this week is the Fed's reading on consumer credit for May. Look for the amount that Americans have borrowed to rise by $7 billion compared with an $8.9 billion increase in April.

-- Neil Ir win