Welcome to Seeking Alpha's Wall Street brunch, our Sunday look ahead to this week's

market-moving events, along with the weekend's top news and analysis.

Hello, today is Sunday February 9th, and I'm your host Kim Khan.

The Fed mandate seesaw keeps going, and we move from full employment to price stability this

week. The January Consumer Price Index hits Wednesday. Both headline and core CPI, which

excludes food and energy, are expected to have risen 0.3% on the month. Wells Fargo economists say

the first major inflation reading for 2025 is likely to show that inflation remains stubbornly strong.

Inflation's early strength in 2024 was a jarring reminder that restoring price stability would not be a

quick affair, they said. We'd expect some lingering issues around residual seasonality to buoy January

's core reading, but we think this dynamic will be less pronounced than last year.

Following Friday's jobs numbers, where upward revisions to recent months overshadowed a week payrolls rise, the markets are about 50-50 on the next Fed rate cut coming in June.

Stephen Blitz, economist at T.S. Lombard, says the January employment data and the benchmark

revisions have a simple message. The economy has been picking up

steam since mid-24, a charge now fueled by 100 basis points of cuts in financing rates. It is time to turn

the page from those dueling narratives of the economy is in recession and can the Fed manage a soft landing,

to the tail that the data tell. Growth and inflation will follow.

Looking to those benchmark revisions, total employment for 2024 was revised down by 0.4%,

which was not even a misdemeanor in statistical terms and hardly the capital crimes some were

expecting, Blitz said. Earnings keep rolling in, with a spotlight on consumer names this week.

McDonald's will release its highly anticipated Q4 earnings report on Monday.

Investors and analysts are anticipating a challenging quarter for the fast food giant,

but we'll be looking for signs of an inflection late in the quarter

...