The Business Week Ahead

The consumer has been the strength of this year's economy and strength is what's expected for July retail sales which will wind up the week. Jobs data will be an early theme including the Fed's experimental index on Monday and JOLTS job openings data on Wednesday. Thursday and Friday will see inflation updates from two reports that, in contrast to consumer prices, have in fact been showing pressure: import & export prices and producer prices. Then on Friday, retail sales are expected to show a solid vehicle-driven gain of 0.4 percent in July and respectable core strength (ex-auto ex-gas) of 0.3 percent. Sharper gains for retail sales could boost the odds of a September FOMC rate hike.