Stock Market This Week: CPI, Fed and Apple WWDC Event to Sway Markets

• Apple’s WWDC event kicks off a big week for the stock market. 
• The May CPI report, crucial for Fed decisions on rate cuts, will be released on Wednesday.
• This week’s events include a Fed meeting, May PPI, initial jobless claims, and consumer sentiment. 

It’s shaping up to be a big week for the stock market with a slew of economic data set to be released, along with a Fed meeting and an all-important Apple event.

Here’s what investors should keep an eye on this week.

Apple’s WWDC event

In what’s being called Apple’s most important event in a decade, the company will kick off its week-long developers conference this week.

The big event is scheduled for today at 1 p.m. ET, which will include a live stream keynote from Apple that should detail its next-generation iOS software platform.

Investors are eagerly anticipating Apple to announce its AI vision for the future of the iPhone, which will then be followed by a new iPhone 16 launch a few months later.

You can tune into the live event here.

May inflation

The key May consumer price index report will be released Wednesday morning at 8:30 a.m. ET.

The inflation report will help inform investors and the Federal Reserve as to when the first interest rate cut of this cycle might occur.

Economists expect Core CPI to rise 3.5% year-over-year, while month-over-month Core CPI is expected to increase by 0.3%.

“The leading indicators all point to softer inflation as evidenced by the U Mich surveys, falling oil, tanking car prices, goods deflation, even the ISM surveys,” Fundstrat’s Tom Lee said on Monday.

If inflation does come in lower than expected, it should lead to a more dovish Fed and increased chances of the first interest rate cut occurring in September.

The Fed meeting

The Fed will announce its latest decision on interest rates on Wednesday at 2:00 p.m. ET, with Fed Chairman Jerome Powell set to take the podium to deliver remarks at 2:30 p.m. ET.

Expectations are for the Fed to keep interest rates unchanged, though the meeting will also see the latest update to the central bank’s “dot plot”,” which will show where officials see rates heading for over the next few years.

The most important aspect of the meeting will be Powell’s tone when he speaks following the meeting.

“While the Fed remains data dependent, the leading indicators point to lower inflation ahead, which in turn, points to a Fed becoming more dovish,” Lee said.

Jobless claims

Initial jobless claims will be released Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m. ET, giving investors a glimpse into the health of the labor market.

Expectations are for 225,000 initial jobless claims, which would be slightly lower than the 229,000 jobless claims reported last week.

A high jobless claims number would spark concern about a deteriorating labor market, which would bolster the case for imminent rate cuts while also raising concerns of an economic slowdown.

Wholesale inflation

The Producer Price Index will give investors another look at the current state of inflation when it is released Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m. ET.

Economists expect producer prices to have risen 0.1% month-over-month in June, which would be a significant slowdown from last month’s reading of 0.5%.

Consumer sentiment

Finally, preliminary consumer sentiment for the month of June will be released Friday morning at 10:00 a.m. ET from the University of Michigan.

Economists expect a reading of 72.3, which would represent a slight increase from last month’s reading of 69.1.

Overall, Fundstrat’s Tom Lee is feeling good about the prospects for higher stock prices this week amid the slew of economic data set to be released.

“While we expect markets to be nervous this week, we think this will prove to be a positive overall for equities,” Lee said.