Week 33 is almost in the history books, a week with plenty of earnings, but what really defined it was the revelation that, yes, the Federal Reserve will be cutting rates in September.
How are we so sure? The economic data. They weren't perfect, but that’s all the more reason that investors celebrated. An acceptable CPI report, a not-so-fantastic PPI report, and a swath of hard and soft data points today sowed the story for this week’s Fed focus.
This morning, we were treated to some more data that showed some improvement in the economy. But like most things this week, we also got to see the flip side. In soft data, the July University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment Survey showed diminished economic confidence. The barometer fell, while inflation expectations rose.
Friday Reading:
Through midday, only the Dow was up (+0.2%), floated by a marketwide obsession with languishing health-care name UnitedHealth (+13%). The other major indexes sagged; a rare sight in recent days.
Nonetheless, stocks are up on the week, even after the tepid reaction to today’s reports. The S&P and Nasdaq are sitting just off all-time highs, while the Russell 2000 and Dow rose over 2% this week, playing catchup with the major indexes.
-- Noah Weidner, markets reporter
TurboTax Via TheStreet
