Market direction for this coming week ?

[wabmester]

Tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. EST we get the Producer Price Index for June with the consensus looking for a 0.3% total rise and 0.2% core rise.

The U.S. Labor Department revealed that the producer price index rose by a seasonally adjusted 0.5% in June. This followed a 0.2% increase during the previous month. Core PPI, which excludes the volatile food and energy sectors, advanced by 0.2% during the latest month. This represented slower growth than the 0.3% advance posted for May.

Bonds got hit, but stocks shrugged it off until TGT reported. Japan dropped 400 points last night. Fun stuff!

So, are retailers missing their numbers because of gas (that's what WMT says) or because of the housing slowdown / wealth effect. I think for now, WMT is right that it's about gas prices.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I wish they'd raise the price of gas a little more where i live. Walmarts too dang busy.

On the other hand, I quit shopping there because their products werent standing up well and they've recently decided to cut back on the variety of products sold, so at least a couple of things on my list arent carried. So much for one stop shopping and decent products at decent prices.

 

[wabmester]

• Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. we get the Consumer Price Index for June with the consensus looking for a headline and core increase of 0.2%.
• Later Wednesday morning Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke delivers the first day of a his two-day Humphrey-Hawkins testimony before the Senate Banking Committee.
• The Humphrey-Hawkins testimony on the heels of PPI and CPI will set the tone for inflation/stagflation/deflation watching as the data will significantly influence the hawkish/dovish posture Bernanke will be able to present.

 

CPI went up by 0.2%, but core was higher than expected at 0.3%.   Bonds initially took a hit, but then Bernanke gave his spiel to congress and basically gave them his top 10 reasons to pause, so the crowds went wild!

 

[brewer12345]

CPI went up by 0.2%, but core was higher than expected at 0.3%.   Bonds initially took a hit, but then Bernanke gave his spiel to congress and basically gave them his top 10 reasons to pause, so the crowds went wild!

Pretty much the exact reason I have been investing based on non-market-driven events. Way too hard to call it with such big reactions going on in the general market.