Digesting a number of key economic readings

The markets will spend the day digesting a number of key economic readings as investors await the results key central bank meetings and position themselves ahead of Friday’s government jobs data. Personal income and spending numbers released earlier this morning showed that while personal income did rise in June (up .5%) spending was flat underscoring consumer uncertainty in the current economic environment. As more economic readings come out -including consumer confidence numbers, home price data and manufacturing data - optimism over potential Fed stimulus action could gain support. The Fed kicks off their two-day meeting today followed by the ECB’s get-together that begins on Thursday. It is expected that markets will trade in tight ranges until a clearer picture of central bank actions starts to develop. The precious metals complex is trading relatively flat in early morning trading with the exception of platinum. The white metal is trading up ~1%. Have a great day.