Target earnings, Cisco reports, Fed minutes: 3 things to watch

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The consumer has proven to be resilient despite inflation that has raised the price of household goods such as food and fuel. Those pricing pressures have started to ease, but analysts have been expected a slowdown in consumer spending anyway. Tuesday’s retail sales numbers showed the opposite. Both year over year and monthly readings were higher than expected.

That adds more fuel to the debate on what the Federal Reserve’s next move on interest rates will be. Futures markets expect the Fed will pause on another rate hike when it next meets on policy in September, after raising rates by a quarter of a point in July. Many futures traders also see the Fed holding steady at other meetings this fall, while a small number see another quarter-point hike before the end of the year.

But the Fed may consider the consumer price index reading for July, which came in cooler than expected, and determine that it could pause while it assesses how well its actions have taken hold to date to bring inflation back toward its 2% target.

Retail earnings this week from big stores such as Walmart (NYSE:WMT) and Target could add more understanding to consumer spending trends.

Here are three things that could affect markets tomorrow:

1. Target earnings

The retailer Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) is expected to report earnings per share of $1.47 on revenue of $25.3 billion, while discount retailer TJX Companies Inc (NYSE:TJX)is expected to report earnings per share of 76 on revenue of $12.4 billion.

2. Cisco earnings

Networking computer company Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) is expected to report earnings per share of $1.06 on revenue of $15.5 billion.

3. FOMC minutes

The Fed’s policy making panel will release the minutes of its July meeting at 14:00 ET (18:00 GMT), which could provide investors with  more insight into officials’ thinking on where interest rates should go for the rest of the year.