Data to Give Read on Inflation

Wall Street watchers say the economic data due out this week will not have as much of a make-or-break effect on the market as last week’s labor numbers, which showed the nation’s unemployment rate is conforming to a trend of a slowing U.S. economy. On Friday, investors will get a reading on inflation at the wholesale level in June as well as a report on just how spend-happy shoppers were in the same month. The producer price index is expected to tick up 0.5% in June after being unchanged in the previous month. The recent surge in oil prices is seen as a factor in the upswing. But excluding volatile food and energy prices, the core PPI is forecast to blip up only 0.1% versus a 0.2% increase in May, economists predict. As for retail sales, American consumers are seen as having hit the stores again, pushing sales figures up 0.4% in June after a 0.3% drop in May. Stripping out volatile auto sales, the core rate is forecast to haven risen by the same 0.4% after being unchanged in the previous month.