The Business News Week Ahead

A dovish announcement on Thursday from the European Central Bank is expected, one that will lean into concrete actions at their next meeting in September. The week's crescendo is on Friday when US GDP is expected to slow, only however, at the headline level. Consumer spending, the economy's backbone, is expected to accelerate sharply in what would add yet one more contradiction to the expected month-end rate cut by the Federal Reserve. Worldwide PMI flashes for July will fill Wednesday's calendar amid general expectations for continued weakness in manufacturing components and emerging weakness in service components. Home sales, both new and existing, will be posted in the US at midweek as will consumer confidence from the Eurozone and business confidence out of France and Germany.