Business week ahead, April 15-19 

KEY EVENT: After five consecutive months of year-over-year job losses to end 2018, Long Island employers opened 2019 by adding workers in January and February. But were employers in a hiring mood as the first quarter ended? The answer comes Thursday when the state Labor Department releases jobs added on Long Island in March.

MONDAY: The Federal Reserve Bank of New York releases the April Empire State survey, an update on state manufacturing. The previous report showed state manufacturing had slowed to its lowest point in more than a year.  Earnings: Citigroup, Goldman Sachs.

TUESDAY: The housing market optimism index for April from the National Association of Home Builders. Earnings: Bank of America, IBM, Johnson & Johnson, Netflix, UnitedHealth Group.

WEDNESDAY: The Federal Reserve releases the May beige book, a collection of early and unofficial economic data. Earnings: Abbott Laboratories, Bank of New York Mellon, Morgan Stanley, PepsiCo.

THURSDAY: March retail sales and February business inventories from the Commerce Department. Also, jobless benefits claims for the week ended April 13 from the U.S. Labor Department. Earnings: American Express, People's United Financial, Travelers.

FRIDAY: The stock market is closed for Good Friday, but government offices are open, and the Commerce Department releases March housing starts.