The Day Ahead: Relatively Packed Calendar of Data and Events

Wednesday is the busiest day of this week in terms of the economic reports and other potential market movers on the calendar.  The biggest-ticket in the 8:30am time slot is the Retail Sales report, however, because the report covers October, markets are already expecting a negative headline due to the effects of Hurricane Sandy.  Moreover, the simple fact that the consensus is more of a moving target makes it hard to say how  various potential outcomes would affect trading levels following the report, and in some way, suggests that it would take a bigger beat or miss to cause significant movement.

In addition to Retail Sales, the Producer Price Index will also be released at 8:30am, but hasn't been a significant market mover for quite some time.  Later in the morning, September (read: "old") Business Inventories are expected to have grown at a slightly slower pace than August (0.4 Consensus vs 0.6 Previous).  There is no scheduled Fed "Twist" buying at the normal 10:15-11:00am time slot.

In the afternoon, the FOMC releases the minutes from its most recent meeting.  The meeting itself wasn't much to write home about and the Minutes would only be any different if they hinted at potential changes in Fed policy in the weeks and months ahead.

Beyond the economic events, the President continues meetings regarding the Fiscal Cliff, this time with corporate executives after meeting yesterday with labor representatives.  At 10:00am, Obama is scheduled to conduct his first press conference in eight months with the Fiscal Cliff likely being the focus, though other topics are on the table.