Experimenting with letting y’all in on my Money Monday prep process…would you be interested in a look ahead to the week in the financial world? I’m gonna do it anyway, but happy to put it out if it’s useful. LMK!
Here are the things I’m looking at this week:
Inflation and interest rates. The Fed has said there’s pain ahead and they will continue to raise interest rates while trying to lower inflation by another 2%. Markets are choppy ahead of their meeting on the 20th where they are expected to raise interest rates another 75 basis points. Last week, our friends across the pond, the European Central bank announced their own big rate hike which has cooled the dollar over there.
Crypto craziness. Ethereum, is essentially getting a software update. It should be wrapping up this week. “The merge,” as it’s known, may have wider implications for the crypto market, the environmental cost of crypto, and possibly how the SEC regulates it. Until it’s complete, just like so much with crypto, this is all speculation. But scam alert: Individual holders don’t have to do anything for this update and anyone telling you otherwise is a scammer.
Stimulus fun. Many states are giving out a stimulus check or relief check. These checks range from $50, thanks Illinois, to several thousand, like up to $3200 in Alaska, depending on where you live. You don’t have to do anything to get these checks, but you may want to double-check that you’ve got everything set up to receive yours which basically means being up to date on your taxes.
Bonus for fellow data geeks out there: tomorrow we get August Consumer Price Index, CPI, numbers. Then on Thursday we get some fun retail sales and industrial production numbers…which will be the last data points the Fed will see before they meet next week. Happy Money Monday y’all!
