FOMC Meeting Heads Busy Economic Week

By John S. McClenahen This week's most anticipated event will occur shortly after 2 p.m. Washington, D.C., time today, Aug. 10. That's when the Federal Reserve will announce the Federal Open Market Committee's decision on U.S. short-term interest rates. A 25-basis-point increase in the federal funds target rate to 1.5% is widely expected. But there are other important economic releases scheduled. For example, on Thursday, Aug. 12, the U.S. Labor Department is slated to release information on last week's initial claims for unemployment insurance and data on July import and export prices. Also on Thursday, the U.S. Commerce Department is expected to release information on July retail sales and June business inventories. On Friday, Aug. 13, the Commerce Department is scheduled to release June international trade data and the Labor Department is to release its July producer price index.