Welcome to Seeking Office Wall Street Lunch.

Our afternoon update on today's market action, news, and analysis.

Good afternoon. Today is Friday, September 15th, and I'm your host, Kim Khan.

Our top story so far today.

Are Americans turning the corner on their view of inflation?

The University of Michigan was out with its preliminary report on September consumer

sentiment this morning. the headline measure fell more than expected to 67.7 from 69.5 in August, but the real action was in inflation expectations.

One-year inflation expectations dropped to 3.1% from 3.5% in August.

Five year inflation expectations, something Fed Chief Jay Powell has said the FOMC is keeping an eye on, dropped to 2.7% from 3%.

Both readings are the lowest since the spring of 2021.

Pantheon macros Ian Shepardson notes that five-year expectations jump from a pre-COVID average of around 2.5 percent to a peak of 3.1 percent in January 2022.

He says a sustained drop in longer-term inflation expectations reflecting the downturn in current inflation would help put FOMC members' minds at ease.

He called the drop to two-year lows a seriously welcome development.

We have argued for some time that a clear

down shift in inflation expectations was overdue and this decline is a big step

towards normalization, he said. This is a preliminary number though and it could be revised up in the final reading as people

respond to higher gas prices but for now it looks good. Moving from the Fed to Congress, Michigan

surveys of consumers director Joanne Sioux, says that so far few consumers

mention the potential federal government shutdown. But if a shutdown comes to bear, consumer

views on the economy will likely slide, just as were the case a few

months ago, when the debt ceiling near to breach.

In today's trading, stocks are selling off with

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