Consumer confidence, Fed policy statement, Amazon earns
Jul 24, 2022, 12:10 PM | Updated: Jul 25, 2022, 12:11 am
A look at some of the key business events and economic indicators upcoming this week:
CONFIDENCE SLIPPING
The Conference Board delivers its latest index of U.S. consumer confidence Tuesday.
Economists expect the reading fell in June to 97. That would be the lowest level since February 2021. A reading of 90 or better reflects a healthy economy. The index, which measures consumers’ assessment of current conditions and their outlook for the future, has mostly fallen this year as consumers grapple with the highest inflation in decades.
Consumer confidence, by month:
Jan. 111.1
Feb. 105.7
March 107.6
April 108.6
May 103.2
June 98.7
July (est.) 97.0
Source: FactSet
THE FED SPEAKS
The Federal Reserve delivers its latest interest rate policy update Wednesday following a two-day meeting of its policymakers.
At its meeting last month, the central bank hiked its key short-term interest rate by triple the usual amount, its biggest increase since 1994. The Fed, which is expected to raise rates for a fourth time this year, hopes that higher rates will slow the economy enough to beat back the most punishing inflation in decades. The risk is that too-aggressive hikes could cause a recession.
MIXED RESULTS?
Wall Street expects that Amazon’s latest quarterly report card will show mixed results.
Analysts predict the e-commerce giant’s earnings declined in the April-June quarter from a year earlier, even as revenue increased. In the first three months of the year, Amazon slid to a loss, despite surging revenue, as the company wrote down its investment in an electric-vehicle startup, and pandemic-induced online shopping slowed. Amazon serves up its second-quarter results Thursday.
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