Stock investors will be looking to the release of March inflation figures as well as a series of US economic data for guidance in trading this week although volume is seen to be thin due to the Lenten break.     “March inflation wil1 be released next week—the print will be critical as this would dictate the tone for monetary policy in the second quarter, and the BSP forecasting a decline is indicative of authorities' general optimism versus the first quarter,” said online brokerage firm 2TradeAsia.com     It noted that, “Most of this sentiment is shared in the near-term: Brent crude prices have been down close to 10 percent in the last three months and is way off its peak last year, while global input prices are down significantly as well.”     “Should this trend remain observable in April—particularly energy prices given recent movement in Russian supply plus Saudi and China meeting this week—the case can be made for more dovish local policy come midyear (next BSP meeting is on May),” added 2TradeAsia.com.     Meanwhile, the brokerage said “A series of economic data are set to be released—in the spotlight are employment and factory data that might prod some liquidity in or out of already spooked risk assets.”     “With local trading capped to three sessions next week due to the Lenten break, brace for thin volumes as lack of stronger catalysts encourage wait-and-see mode until after Easter,” it said.     For stock picks, COL Financial favors PLDT in light of its 2022 results and because of its leadership in the home broadband segment and its favorable position to capitalize on growing demand in the enterprise and data center business.     Meanwhile, both COL and Abacus Securities Corporation recommended a BUY for D&L Industries shares after noting that the firm outperformed consensus (107 percent) forecasts with its full-year net income reaching a record P3.3 billion.     “We like DNL since it is in a prime position to capitalize on the reopening of the economy given its diversified portfolio of products catering to different consumer groups. We also expect that the significant capacity expansion from its upcoming Batangas plant will enable DNL to capitalize on the growing export demand for its products,” COL said.     Abacus said the improvement in margins “should lead to even better profitability for DNL. China reopening and normalized raw materials/forex should be positive for DNL to grow higher than management expectations.”     Both brokerages also favor Puregold with COL noting that, “We continue to like PGOLD as it remains well-positioned to capitalize on improving mobility trends despite near term inflationary headwinds.”     It added that, “We also like PGOLD for its differentiated focus of middle to low-income class consumers through Puregold while it competes in the premium segment through S&R.”     Abacus said that “investors should consider that PGOLD is near the cheapest it has ever been and it is likely to beat consensus again for this year which is at P9.6 billion or only a few percentage points higher than last year’s profit.”