The Federal Reserve’s policy meeting is the large event in the approaching week, but Tuesday’s consumer inflation report could hold more sway for markets and even help set the central bank’s agenda. The patron price index is unlikely to affect the Fed’s decision to lift rates by a widely anticipated half percentage point Wednesday. However it could influence the post-meeting tone, each within the Federal Open Market Committee’s statement and in how Fed Chairman Jerome Powell describes the central bank’s battle with inflation at the tip of the two-day meeting. The CPI is anticipated to rise 0.3% on the headline, and 0.4% for core, which excludes food and energy, in accordance with Refinitiv. That compares with a rise of 0.4% for headline inflation and 0.3% for core in October. Inflation and a hawkish Fed “I believe the info can influence his press conference and the way hawkish he’s,” said NatWest Markets’ John Briggs. “If now we have a stronger CPI number, he could stress now we have to go further.” Briggs said the report shouldn’t impact the Fed’s quarterly release of forecasts for inflation and rates of interest, which will probably be issued with the policy statement Wednesday afternoon. If CPI is hotter than the 7.7% year-over-year increase in October, the chairman could warn of a more aggressive agenda for the Fed, Briggs said. “It will have him be aggressive on two fronts. The destination [for rates] might be higher, and the second is that rates are going to remain higher for longer,” said Briggs. Currently, many market pros expect the Fed to lift rates of interest to five% or more before stopping next spring. The fed funds goal rate is currently at 3.75% to 4%, after six rate hikes. The Fed is anticipated to cut back the scale of its next hike to 50 basis points, after 4 hikes of 75 basis points. A basis point equals 0.01 of a percentage point. The market rallied after the last CPI nevertheless it tumbled after last Friday’s strong November jobs report , and the especially strong wage data in that release. There have been 263,000 jobs created, plus wages grew at a higher-than-expected 5.1% rate year-over-year. Market response “I have been a bit surprised we were capable of brush off the wage number as much as we were,” said Briggs. “In the event you get a better CPI report on the back of that, it could create some significant market instability ahead of the Fed meeting.” James Paulsen, chief investment strategist at Leuthold Group, said if the CPI print is just not as hot as expected, that would boost the market. “It might be very bullish, if it’s sufficiently big on the downside,” he said. “If it’s in line, possibly the Fed is just not going to be an enormous deal because people will just about know what it’s. The dollar, the bond market, the stock market to some extent have already discounted and made up their minds about 50 basis points.” Paulsen said the market view is shifting and investors have gotten more frightened concerning the possible results of Fed tightening relatively than why it’s raising rates of interest. “I believe the markets are increasingly speaking and ignoring the Fed. The first fear was inflation,” he said. “Recession has taken over as the highest fear.” Stocks were weaker in a turbulent past week, while bond yields were lower. The S & P 500 was down by 3.37% for the week, and the widely watched 10-year Treasury yield was at 3.586%. Some strategists say the market is caught in a downtrend, driven by fear of recession and worries that profits will probably be weaker when fourth-quarter earnings are reported. Some expect the market to retest its lows in the primary quarter . Paulsen said he doesn’t expect the market to return to its lows. Falling yields also needs to help stocks. Recession fears “In the event you’re more frightened about recession than inflation, which means you usher in more bond buyers than sellers,” he said. Bond yields fall as prices rise. “The more aggressive the Fed talks about raising rates, the more the troubles about recession increase. The more bond buyers are brought in.” Paulsen said he expects it was inflation that drove the market to its lows, and it’s now priced in. “I already see a recent easing cycle. It’s in play,” he said. He also expects corporate earnings won’t be as weak as some analysts expect. The decline within the dollar, drop in rates of interest and falling commodities prices are all helping. “Corporations for the primary time are having fun with lower capital costs and commodities prices. … We’re seeing loads stimulus dumped on this economy,” he said. Besides the buyer inflation data, the economic calendar is jam-packed within the week ahead. Retail sales, industrial production, and the Philadelphia Fed manufacturing survey in addition to the Empire State manufacturing survey are released Thursday. S & P Global manufacturing and services PMI are released Friday. Week ahead calendar Monday Earnings: Oracle , Coupa Software, Mesa Air 2:00 p.m. Federal budget Tuesday Federal Reserve begins two-day meeting 6:00 a.m. NFIB small business survey 8:30 a.m. Consumer price index Wednesday Earnings: Lennar, Trip.com 8:30 a.m. Import prices 2:00 p.m. Fed statement and projections 2:30 p.m. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell briefing Thursday Earnings: Adobe, Jabil 8:30 a.m. Initial jobless claims 8:30 a.m. Retail sales 8:30 a.m. Empire state manufacturing 8:30 a.m. Philadelphia Fed manufacturing 9:15 a.m. Industrial production 10:00 a.m. Business inventories 4:00 p.m. TIC data Friday Earnings: Accenture, Darden Restaurants 8:30 a.m. Business leaders survey 9:45 a.m. S & P Global Manufacturing PMI 9:45 a.m. S & P Global Services PMI