After policymakers worried about inflation throughout 2017, it signaled improvement in the last quarter thanks to increasing gasoline prices. We’ll find out how the producer price index as well as the consumer price index performed in December this week, and these two economic indicators will give investors clues about how the Fed’s policy will shape up in 2018.
While news regarding inflation will dominate economic news, we will also start to see some major Q4 corporate earnings, and one of the largest banks in America, Wells Fargo & Company (WFC ), is set to lead the way. The firm had a rough year and likely had minor improvements in earnings in Q4 2017 compared to last year, but the bank is dealing with overcapitalization and might announce a share buyback program sometime soon.
2017 ended with a robust labor market, and we will likely see some strong JOLTS job openings figure in December but won’t be surprised if the data doesn’t meet expectations, as most hiring managers might have delayed posting job advertisements till January.
All in all, expect the bullish momentum to build this week as most key players will end the holiday hibernation in the second week of the year.
