Looking Ahead: March 25 through March 29, 2013

The turmoil over Cyprus trumped economic news including the FOMC announcement on Wednesday. At this writing, negotiations continue in an attempt to reach a package by Monday — the day the ECB said it will stop supporting Cyprus. The Federal Reserve left its policy unchanged. Economic data for Europe disappointed but did not for the U.S. The last week of the month brings its usual spate of new economic data especially from Japan. February unemployment, consumer prices, industrial output and consumer spending are on the calendar. It is also the last week of the first quarter of 2013 and the end of Japan’s fiscal year.