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US stock markets ended the week mixed.
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Traders struggled to extend the comeback rally after recovering most of the losses from last week’s big drop.
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The new inflation figures will be announced on Tuesday, together with the producer price index report for July.
US stocks swayed on Monday as they struggled to sustain a rally that began late last week ahead of new inflation figures for July.
Stocks swung between gains and losses throughout the session, unable to recoup losses from Monday’s sell-off, the worst in two years.
On Tuesday, investors will digest the first of two inflation data points due out this week. The producer price index, a measure of wholesale inflation, is expected to be in line with the June data at 0.2%.
The second update will be the main event, with the consumer price index showing the increase in inflation that the average consumer faced last month. Economists expect the measure to show a slight increase month-on-month, but not enough to warrant predictions that the Fed will cut interest rates at next month’s policy meeting.
Yet rate cuts are a double-edged sword. Markets are clamoring for lower interest rates, but a move by the Fed would also be an admission that the economy is slowing. Fears of a recession are what fueled the last big sell-off, and any weakness in the economic picture could be the catalyst for the next big stock market decline.
“The bears think the Fed’s aggressive rate cuts are a warning of recession, not a signal that inflation is under control,” veteran investor Louis Nevallier wrote in a note Monday.
This was the position of the US indices at the close at 4:00 p.m. on Monday:
Geopolitical tensions also flared up again early in the week, with the Pentagon sending more US troops to the Middle East in anticipation of a possible attack by Iran. The US anticipated an attack on Israel after the killing of a Hamas leader in Tehran. US crude oil prices rose as much as 4% on Monday.
Here’s what else is happening today:
In commodities, bonds and crypto:
Read the original article on Business Insider
