Coming This Week

This week’s bevy of government reports is expected to show that the U.S. economy is still going strong. Among them, wholesale inventories, due Tuesday, probably rose 0.2% in February after falling 0.2% in January--a sign that the nation’s wholesalers expect demand to increase. And the producer price index for March, due out Friday, probably rose 0.3% after falling 0.4% the previous month, according to analysts’ forecasts. Excluding energy and food costs, producer prices probably rose 0.1%. On Thursday, the nation’s largest retailers are expected to report that chain-store sales probably increased in March.