(CEP News) - On Wednesday, U.S. data Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke takes centre stage when he testifies before the Joint Economic Committee. In the U.S., data markets will receive the ADP employment report for March and in Canada, BOC Deputy Governor Paul Jenkins is scheduled to speak.

T.J. Marta, fixed income strategist with RBC Capital Markets, said she believes markets will be paying close attention to Bernanke�s speech on the country�s economic outlook.

"Given the speed of recent policy changes, as well as economic and financial market developments, [Bernanke�s] perspectives regarding the effectiveness of actions already taken and those that might still need to be implemented could move markets significantly," he wrote in a note to clients.

Economists expect that the ADP report will show a decline of 45,000 after a previous 23,000 decrease. However, economists from Lehman

Brothers believe a larger decline is likely.

"We expect that private payroll employment declined by 50,000 in March, which falls between recent estimates of private payroll growth suggested by ADP and the BLS," they wrote in a research note. "As the ADP series has tended to outpace the official count of private payroll employment recently � by an average of 93,000 in the last three months � a modestly stronger reading for private payrolls employment is possible in the this report."

All times in EDT.

Wednesday
7:00 US MBA Mortgage Applications 28-Mar Prior: +48.1%
7:30 US Challenger Job Cuts (Y/Y) March Prior: -14.2%
8:15 US ADP Employment Change March Exp: -40K Prior: -23K
8:15 CA BOC�s Jenkins on Trends and Challenges in Global Economy and Canada
9:30 US Fed�s Bernanke Testifies Before Joint Economic Committee
10:00 US Factory Orders FEB Exp: +0.8% Prior: -2.5%
10:00 US Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment
10:30 US DOE U.S. Crude Oil Inventories 28 March Prior: +88K
10:30 US DOE U.S. Gasoline Inventories 28 March Prior: -3285K
10:30 US DOE U.S. Distillate Inventory 28 March Prior: -2141K
10:30 US DOE U.S. Refinery Utilization 28 March Prior: -1.68%

By Ryan Szporer, edited by Cristina Markham