The signals may be mixed, but they still seem to generally resonate positively. According to BusinessWeek:
September inflation reports should take center stage next week. Minutes of the Sept. 20 monetary policy meeting showed that the Fed expects inflation to gradually decelerate as the economy settles into a slower level of growth and energy prices recede.
The wild card still seems to be the housing market.
Some of the salient issues:
The upcoming September reports are expected to validate the central bank's general view. Both headline consumer and producer price indexes should decline as gasoline, crude oil, and natural gas prices retreated during the month. The core price indexes which exclude energy and food are more important. In coming months, this measure will shed some light on the role energy had in the recent acceleration of core inflation.
If energy costs played a significant role, could we again see them play a role as energy demands rise. No one is really sure. There are other factors.
This week's bevy of corporate earnings announcements will also shed some light on how well Corporate America is doing.
How Main Street is doing - or thinks they are doing - is what has my attention.
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