The Business Week Ahead

The week starts off slowly putting the focus on Fedspeak following the prior week's striking pressure in average hourly earnings. Two doves speak on Tuesday, Neal Kashkari of the Minneapolis Fed and Rob Kaplan from Dallas. Speakers who follow are Charles Evans of Chicago on Wednesday, another dove, with Governor Jerome Powell, Eric Rosengren of Boston and Raphael Bostic later in the week. Minutes from last month's historic FOMC meeting will be Wednesday's highlight though JOLTS data in the morning may offer a strong reminder of tightness in the labor market. Jobless claims, skewed or not by hurricanes, are the highlight on Thursday which will also offer producer prices and the final Treasury budget report for fiscal year 2017. The big news comes out on Friday with consumer prices, where limited but constructive pressure for the core is the call, and retail sales where a giant spike in the headline may mask only moderate trends below.