Slew of inflation, growth data due

As anxiety intensifies over rising inflation and the pace of economic growth, Wall Street is hungry for more information. This week, it’ll have a lot to chew on.

Not only will investors receive reports on consumer prices and the housing market in the upcoming days, they’ll also be hit by a cascade of financial results from companies in a number of sectors, including financial, technology and home building, as well as businesses in the manufacturing, consumer goods and pharmaceutical industries.

The earnings reports should give investors more clues to their questions about U.S. growth: Is it expanding so fast that it will prompt a rate hike from the Federal Reserve? Slowly enough to incite a rate cut? Or so feebly that the economy might eventually slip into recession?

Investors are crossing their fingers for slow growth and a rate cut this year, a move that would probably ramp up consumer spending -- which has remained resilient given the slow housing market and inflation that the Fed calls “uncomfortably high.”

Today, the market will see whether spending is still strong when the Commerce Department releases its March retail sales report. Analysts predict sales will rise by about 0.4%, up from an anemic 0.1% rise in February.

Another economic report that will draw attention is the Labor Department’s March consumer price index, and the accompanying core figure that strips out energy and food prices.

The report, to be released Tuesday, is considered an even more important gauge of inflation than the producer price index, which on Friday came in flat and calmed some fears that inflation was getting out of control.