Retail Sales: Tomorrow's Headliners
NEW YORK (
) -- Tuesday's session looks to be a busy one, with the latest retail sales data, producer price index reading and a handful of other economic data coming due.
With so much attention devoted to the consumer, Tuesday morning's report on retail sales for August will be in the spotlight. Due at 8:30 a.m. EDT, the data are expected to show that despite a slow back-to-school shopping season and the shift of the later-than-usual Labor Day holiday, retail sales climbed 1.6% in August after falling in July.
The government's Cash for Clunkers rebate program probably boosted the headline sales number in August, so economists will focus more on the sales number excluding autos, which should still rise 0.5% after dipping in July.
The Labor Department's producer price index will also receive plenty of attention Tuesday, with some market participants warning about the dangers of inflation as the unemployment rate continues to climb.
Economists polled by Thomson Reuters expect the headline PPI number for August to rise 0.8% after a 0.9% slide in July. They expect the core number, which excludes food and energy, to tick up 0.1%, reversing a 0.1% dip the prior month.
Also on Tuesday's economic docket, the New York
Federal Reserve's
Empire State index for September will be the first of several manufacturing data points this week. Additionally, the July read on business inventories will be released at 10 a.m. EDT.
The earnings schedule also features some well known names, with
Best Buy
(BBY) - Get Report
and
Kroger
(KR) - Get Report
due to report earnings before the start of trading Tuesday, and
Adobe Systems
(ADBE) - Get Report
set to be the headliner after the close.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect
to say it earned 41 cents a share in the second quarter, although same-store sales should fall nearly 6%.
, meanwhile, is expected to earn 44 cents in the second quarter. Management has not provided second-quarter guidance, but it did say full-year earnings will fall between $2 and $2.05 a share. The Thomson Reuters average estimate is $2.05 a share.
On the political front, President Obama will speak at the AFL-CIO convention in Pittsburgh, a few short days after saying he would impose a tariff as high as 35% on tires imported from China and one day after appearing on Wall Street to push his agenda for financial reform. Obama is looking to gain more support for his health care bill, which he introduced during a joint meeting of Congress on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Senate Finance Committee will hold a hearing on unemployment insurance benefits.
-- Written by Robert Holmes in New York
.
