Commodities Week Ahead: Oil Bulls Cling to $80 as Fed Minutes, Retail Sales Beckon
After a seven-week rally, oil bulls are clinging to $80 per barrel pricing and looking to the Federal Reserve to reveal the deliberations that led to last month’s rate hike as markets look for signals on what the central bank could decide when it meets again In September.
Also slated for release this week is U.S. retail sales, which lands on Tuesday, a day before the release of the July meeting minutes of the Fed’s policy-making Federal Open Market Committee, or FOMC.
The Fed raised rates by 25 basis points last month and left the door open to another hike in September. The minutes will help investors gauge the appetite for further rate increases, although markets are expecting a pause in September.
Data last week showed that while U.S. consumer and producer prices increased moderately in July, the overall trend indicated that inflationary pressures were easing.
The retail sales numbers from the Commerce Department are expected to show a pickup in demand at the start of the third quarter after a smaller-than-expected increase in June.
That and other data through August will paint a broader picture for investors on what the Fed is likely to say at its annual get-together in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, at the end of this month.
The U.S. central bank has increased interest rates by 5.25 percentage points since March 2022 to bring inflation back down to its 2% goal.
Other data this week is expected to indicate that the manufacturing sector is still struggling — the Empire State manufacturing index is expected to fall into negative territory, while the Philly Fed manufacturing index is expected to remain in negative territory.
Housing sector numbers are expected to be more positive with Wednesday’s reports on building permits and
Read more on investing.com
