AMJ (Alerian MLP index tracking fund)

Retail trade groups warn rail strike would devastate economy

WALLET WORRIES: Credit card debt hits record high as inflation rages

Cleveland Federal Reserve Pres Loretta Mester said inflation will need to show more signs of progress before she's ready to stop advocating for interest Rate increases.  While acknowledging that recent data has been encouraging, the central bank official said that the progress is only a start.  "We're going to have more work to do, because we need to see inflation really on a sustainable downward path back to 2%," she said.  "We've had some good news on the inflation front, but we need to see more good news and sustained good news to make sure that we are returning to price stability as soon as we can."  Markets widely expect the Fed in Dec to approve its 7th rate hike of the year, but this time slowing down to a 0.5 percentage point increase from a string of 4 straight 0.75 percentage point moves.  Mester said she's on board with the reduced pace.  "We're at a point where we're going to enter a restrictive stance of policy. At that point, I think it makes sense that we can slow down a bit the ... pace of increases," she added.  "We're still going to raise the funds rate, but we're at a reasonable point now where we can be very deliberate in setting monetary policy."

Investors are risk averse, so they are buying stocks.  The cautious ones are buying gold.  In the meantime, pay attention to what Fed officials have to say.

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