What happened this weeK

This past Thursday was the passing of Queen Elizabeth II’s, her reign of more than seventy years made her the longest reigning monarch of Great Britain. Her death marked a historic change in titles and roles within the royal family as the newly-appointed King Charles III named his firstborn son, William, and wife Catherine the Prince and Princess of Wales.

Stock futures were higher Sunday night, investors on Wall Street are expecting key inflation data to be released this week. The moves over the weekend come after a positive week for U.S. stocks, as all three major averages closing the week higher, the Dow added 2.66% on the week, while the S&P 500 gained 3.65%. The Nasdaq Composite was 4.14% higher.

Investors remain focused on interest-rate news. The European Central Bank raised its key rate by 0.75 percentage point Thursday, in an aggressive move to fight inflation.

In international news; Xi Jinping will leave China for the first time in more than two years for a trip this week to Central Asia where he will meet Russia’s Vladimir Putin. China’s president will meet Putin at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s summit in the ancient Silk Road city of Samarkand in Uzbekistan, the Kremlin has said. Speculators agree the meeting will give Xi an opportunity to flaunt his role as China’s most powerful leader, while Putin can demonstrate Russia’s political partiality towards Asia; both leaders can show their opposition to the United States just as the West seeks to punish Russia for the Ukraine war.

Looking ahead to this week:

Tues Sept 13th; August consumer price index report, one of the final pieces of data on inflation the Fed will see ahead of its September meeting, where they will determine the next potential interest rate hike.

Thurs Sept 15: Retail sales and industrial production; expected another 0.3% increase in the core rate for August, if the number is lower could spark a potential market rally.

Editor’s note

We would like to announce the arrival of Miriam Isabel Rodriguez, who was born on Wednesday August 31 to Claudia and her husband Israel. Mother and child are both well. We thank God for this miracle.