Coming Week: Shopper Spotlight

With the markets trading near record levels, traders will turn their attention to consumers -- and the prices they pay -- in the holiday-shortened coming week.

The market will look to a key report on consumer-level inflation report to affirm last week's sentiment that the Federal Reserve will not be raising interest rates anytime soon. Meanwhile, major retailers will begin to weigh in with their earnings reports for the key holiday selling season.

"It's an abbreviated week, so we expect the action to be light," said Larry Perruzzi, equity trader with Boston Company Asset Management. "With earnings winding down, the comments out of the Fed have been getting our attention. Looking ahead at the economic data, it appears the economy is growing at a healthy pace. Inflation seems to be under control, and the markets have reacted well to that."

The markets will get another clue about inflation with the release of January's consumer price index Wednesday. Economists are expecting a 0.1% rise in the index, down from December's jump of 0.5%. Excluding food and energy, the core CPI is expected to remain flat from the prior month at 0.2%.

Last week, the Labor Department said its producer price index eased 0.6% in January. The core index, which excludes food and energy prices, rose 0.2%, matching forecasts. The core rate advanced 1.8% year over year, within the Federal Reserve's comfort range of 1% to 2%.

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