Wall Street Awaits Key Updates on Consumer Confidence and Inflation

Wall Street is set to receive key updates on consumer confidence and inflation next week. The Conference Board will release its latest consumer confidence report on Tuesday, which is expected to show a decline in August following a slip in July.

Consumer confidence has been weak throughout the year due to stubbornly high inflation. The ongoing war with Iran has contributed to this issue by stifling oil supplies worldwide and increasing gasoline prices, thus squeezing household budgets. This has also led to higher costs for shipping various products, including groceries and clothing.

The Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation, personal consumption expenditures (PCE), will be reported on Wednesday. Like the consumer price index, it has shown that inflation remains above 3%. The Fed has been struggling to bring inflation back down to its target rate of 2%, which it came close to achieving in early 2025 but then saw a resurgence due to imposed tariffs and the Iran war.