Wednesday's Events: U.S. Advance Retail Sales, Business Inventories

US advance retail sales data along with business inventories will dominate the agenda on Wednesday. In light of falling energy prices, DOE crude inventories will also be watched closely to see how supplies are holding up.

At 7:00 a.m. EDT MBA will release mortgage applications for the week ending August 8. In the previous week, mortgages rose 2.8% week-over-week.

At 8:30 a.m. EDT, the U.S. Commerce Department will release advance retail sales data for July. The consensus expects a 0.1% decline in July, a drop from last month's 0.1% growth. The U.S. Commerce Department will also release retail sales less autos for July. The consensus expects a 0.5% increase in July, a drop from last month's 0.8% performance.

At 8:30 a.m. EDT, the U.S. Bureau of Labor will release the import price index for July. The consensus expects the index to grow by 1% in July, a decline from last month's 2.6% figure.

At 10:00 a.m. EDT, the U.S. Commerce Department will release business inventories for the month of June. In the previous month, business inventories grew by 0.3%.

At 10:35 a.m. EDT, the U.S. Department of Energy will release crude oil, gasoline and distillate inventories as well as refinery utilization for the week ending Aug. 8.

7:00 US MBA Mortgage Applications 8-Aug Prior: +2.8%

8:30 US Import Price Index (M/M) July Exp: +1.0% Prior: +2.6%

8:30 US Import Price Index (Y/Y) July Exp: +20.4% Prior: +20.5%

8:30 US Advance Retail Sales July Exp: -0.1% Prior: +0.1%

8:30 US Retail Sales Less Autos July Exp: +0.5% Prior: +0.8%

10:00 US Business Inventories June Exp: +0.5% Prior: +0.3%

10:35 US DOE U.S. Crude Oil Inventories 8-Aug Exp: +300K Prior: +1614K

10:35 US DOE U.S. Gasoline Inventories 8-Aug Exp:-2150K Prior: -4344K

10:35 US DOE U.S. Distillate Inventory 8-Aug Exp: +1950K Prior: +2841K

10:35 US DOE U.S. Refinery Utilization 8-Aug Exp:-0.50% Prior: -0.21%

By Steve Stecyk and edited by Megan Ainscow