Markets today: inflation data and Nvidia headline a heavy Wednesday

Wednesday is the week’s pivot. The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge arrives at 8:30 a.m. ET, packed into a single window with a second estimate of second-quarter growth and the month’s income and spending figures. Nvidia reports the same day. The overnight tape framed the session around that pairing, with the chipmaker and the inflation print drawing the heaviest coverage across the major wires.

On the calendar today

The data lands in one burst. At 8:30 a.m. ET the schedule stacks five high-importance releases: the core PCE price index (forecast 0.2 percent, prior 0.1 percent), the second estimate of second-quarter GDP (seen at 1.5 percent, down from 2.1 percent), durable goods orders (forecast 0.7 percent, prior 0.3 percent), personal income (forecast 0.2 percent, unchanged from the prior month) and personal spending (forecast 0.1 percent, down from 0.3 percent). The year-over-year PCE price index prints in the same window, seen at 3.6 percent against 3.7 percent previously. Two medium-grade reports fill the same slot: durable goods orders excluding transportation, forecast at 0.6 percent, and a preliminary estimate of corporate profits. A weekly mortgage-rate reading opened the docket at 7:00 a.m. ET. The EIA’s crude inventories follow at 10:30 a.m. ET, and the Fed’s Barkin speaks at 11:45 a.m. ET.

Reporting today

Three companies Bellwize covers are on the calendar: Nvidia, Salesforce and CrowdStrike.

Where Tuesday left off

Stocks closed higher Tuesday. The S&P 500 rose 0.32 percent to 7,677.28 and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.66 percent to 26,151.30. The Dow gained 0.30 percent to 53,577.40. Chip and hardware names led the tape. Super Micro Computer jumped 9.4 percent and Advanced Micro Devices rose 4.9 percent, while Coinbase and Dell each added more than 4 percent. Target was the session’s weakest large-cap, off 3.8 percent, with Lululemon down 3.6 percent. The VIX finished at 15.69, and the 10-year Treasury yield settled at 4.70 percent.

The week ahead

Only Friday carries scheduled weight.

• Friday brings two high-importance items at 10:00 a.m. ET: a speech from Fed Chair Warsh and a preliminary annual benchmark revision to nonfarm payrolls, the yearly recalibration of the payroll count against fuller records.

What to watch

Two things drive the day. Core PCE is the inflation reading the Federal Reserve weighs most heavily, and it prints alongside the revised growth figure and the income and spending data in the same minute. Nvidia is the other pole. The chipmaker drew the heaviest overnight coverage of any name on the tape, across the major wires, and it reports today with Salesforce and CrowdStrike. The Fed’s Barkin rounds out the schedule at 11:45 a.m. ET.

This is a general-market summary for information only — not investment advice, and not a recommendation regarding any security.