Stocks were choppy Friday as volume thinned out ahead of the long holiday weekend. As a reminder, Monday is a stock market holiday, with both the equities and bond markets closed for Labor Day. Today, though, investors took in a not-too-terrible update on inflation and a round of concerning retail earnings.
Starting with the economic data. All eyes were on this morning's release of the Personal Consumption and Expenditures (PCE) Price Index, the Fed's preferred inflation measure, which rose 0.2% month-over-month in July and was up 2.5% year-over-year. Core PCE, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, increased 0.2% on a monthly basis and was up 2.6% from the year-ago period.
