Inflation reports from this week should allow the Fed to stay on track with rate cuts

Investors who fear a stubborn inflation, if not an outright rebound, got some relief Friday morning. Wholesale prices showed no change month-on-month in September, coming in below expectations. The producer price index report may help address some minor concerns about Thursday’s consumer price index report, which was slightly warmer than expected. The data inside the reports is another reason for the calm, said David Seif, chief economist for developed markets at Nomura Securities, on ” Squawk Box .” “The main thing for the Fed is their preferred measure of inflation, core PCE. And if you actually look at the parts of yesterday’s print and you just look at today’s PPI print that goes into that core PCE, it actually looks pretty good,” Seif said. said. The September personal consumption expenditure price index will be released on October 31. Traders appeared less confident in the Federal Reserve’s rate cut approach after Friday’s report. The CME FedWatch tool showed an 88% chance of a 0.25 percentage point cut at the November meeting. That figure dropped to 83% on Thursday. “We think the Fed is still on track to cut 25 [basis points] in each of the next two meetings,” Seif added. A strong start to the third-quarter earnings season could be another boost to investor sentiment. On Friday morning, JPMorgan Chase , Wells Fargo and BNY Mellon all beat their benchmarks, according to LSEG .
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