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 August 10th, and I'm your host, Kim Con.

Inflation is back in focus this week with the Bureau of Labor Statistics releasing

July Consumer Price Index numbers before the bell on Tuesday. Economists expect headline CPI to

have risen 0.3% on the month, with the annual rate ticking up to 2.8%. Core CPI, which

excludes food and energy, is seen up 0.2% for the month, with annual core inflation rising to 3%.

Wells Fargo economists say, it's still the early innings when it comes to answering the

question, who will bear the brunt of tariffs? Will it be the end consumer, domestic

sellers, or foreign exporters? That said, growing consumer fatigue is making it more difficult

to raise prices in general, they added. While we continue to expect inflation to pick up,

we're also not expecting it to ratchet higher over the second half of the year. We look for core inflation to return to around a 3% annual pace in the fourth quarter. This round of retail inflation data comes with a twist, though, in the wake of President Donald Trump firing BLS Commissioner, Erica McIntarfer. Trump has said he would name a new commissioner in three or four days, but hasn't yet, and there is some concern about what might happen if the numbers come in hot, displeasing Trump. William Beach, McIntyre's Trump-appointed predecessor, told the Wall Street Journal, this is the most important selection in the history of the BLS, and that to heal this, you would have to have an appointment of a person whose reputation for

honesty and integrity is beyond question. You would have to have a unanimous vote in the Senate for that

confirmation. On Friday, July retail sales figures are due amid worries of weakening consumer

spending. The forecast is for a 0.5% rise, with sales ex-autos up 0.3%. We've highlighted the

sharp drop in the year ago pace of discretionary

services, but discretionary goods purchases have also slept in the past three months after a pop in March,

Wells Fargo said. We suspect the moderating job market and concern over tariff-induced price pressure

has led consumers to grow more choosy. Looking to earnings, the calendar continues to thin out

with just eight SMP 500 companies

issuing numbers. Faxset says that for Q2, with 90% of SMP 500 companies reporting actual results,

81% of those companies have reported a positive EPS surprise, and also 81% have reported a positive

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