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Markets Await August CPI Data

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Pre-market futures are up to start a new trading week, after the worst week for the stock market in two years. We’re still in the green across the board year to date, though off our mid-summer all-time highs. The Dow is +260 points at this hour, the S&P 500 is +33, the Nasdaq +135 and the small-cap Russell 2000 +2 points.

CPI Report Due Wednesday

The biggest economic report of the week comes in a couple days — a week prior to the Fed’s decision on interest rates — and it is the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for August. What’s expected is a steady +0.2% month over month but a bigger step down year over year on headline, from an Inflation Rate of +2.9% reported a month go to +2.6% projected this week.

The core print year over year is expected to be flat at +3.2% — decidedly less flattering in terms of where the Fed wants inflation coming in. Yet it’s the lowest level we’ve seen on core CPI year over year since April 2021. From this vista, we can see inflation has been nicely tamed (we were at +6.6% core CPI year over year in September 2022), and any surprise to the downside will be welcome.

Reports Expected After the Open: Inventories, Consumer Credit

Wholesale Inventories for July will come out as the regular trading session gets underway this morning, expected to tick up 10 basis points (bps) to +0.3% from the previous month. We’ll also see August Consumer Credit numbers today, expected to jump to $12.0 billion from $8.9 billion a month ago.

Oracle Reports Fiscal Q1 Earnings After Market Close

Enterprise software giant Oracle (ORCL - Free Report) releases its fiscal Q1 earnings results after today’s close. Earnings per share are expected to have grown +10.9% from the year-ago quarter, with revenues expected +6.14% higher. The Zacks Rank #2 (Buy)-rated company is looking to bounce back from its earnings miss a quarter ago, which broke a string of six-straight (slight) earnings beats.


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