The Week Ahead...

An especially important employment report tops a very busy week that includes motor vehicle sales on Tuesday and the first hard evidence on the consumer for August. Updates on the rebounding factory sector and the ever strong service sector will be posted through mid-week with Wednesday afternoon's Beige Book to offer broad assessments across the economy. Friday's employment report is the last major indicator before the September 17th FOMC meeting. Nonfarm payroll growth is expected to remain moderate at 223,000 while the unemployment rate is expected to tick down 1 tenth to 5.2 percent in results that would be respectable but probably not enough to heat up liftoff talk.