This Week We Get One Of The Most Important Economic Datapoints Of The Year

The world continues to watch for any sign that the fiscal shenanigans happening in DC are derailing the U.S. recovery.

Goldman is feeling optimistic that things will be okay.

BofA/ML's David Woo is concerned that we're about to see a sharp slowdown in the March data, especially once the impact of sequestration is felt.

One of the big datapoints of the year, therefore, will be wednesday's retail sales number for February.

Analysts expect to see a 0.5 percent increase, per Yahoo Finance.

Given that the February number should completely incorporate the effect of the expiration of the payroll tax holiday, this will be a critical number.