Market Digest: RIO, DG, DOCU, CEG1

Summary

Monday Tee Up: Closing in on Fed Day Investor focus swings back to inflation this week. The incoming CPI report is one of the last key reports before the Fed's highly anticipated rate meeting next week. Meanwhile, the swan song of earnings is out this week by way of Oracle, considered by many to be an early indicator for the next earnings cycle. Last week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 2.9%, the S&P 500 shed 4.3%, and the Nasdaq plunged by 5.8%. Year to date, the DJIA is higher by 7%, the S&P by 13%, and the Nasdaq by 11%. On the economic calendar, the highlight of this week is the CPI report on Wednesday. In July, CPI posted at 2.9%. We see it sliding to 2.6% for August. Core CPI came in at 3.2% last month. We expect no change this month. On Thursday, more inflation data is due on the wholesale side, this via the Producer Price Index. And on Friday, Consumer Sentiment will be updated. Earnings season is essentially over, but as mentioned above, Oracle reports on Monday. On Tuesday, PetSmart, Petco, GameStop, and Dave & Buster's weight in, and on Thursday, Adobe and Kroger step to the plate. Earnings are 13% higher this quarter than a year ago, which is better than many expected. Information Technology was the winning sector, edging out Financial and Healthcare. All three were up more than 20% for the quarter compared to the same quarter last year. Materials was at the other end, down 6%. Though the overall results were good, many companies did mention that inflation hurt demand. Last week, the August jobs report sent mixed signals on the health of the labor market. Nonfarm Payrolls printed at 142,000 in August, below expectations of 165,000 and compared to a revised-down 89,000 in July. That showed a cooling labor market and was in synch with other jobs data out during the week. Still, the Unemployment Rate ticked down to 4.2% after the surprise jump last month to 4.3. Mortgage rates were flat at 6.35% for the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage. Gas prices fell seven cents to $3.31 per gallon for the average price of regular gas. That