Consumer Sentiment Warning Flag & Next Week's Headwinds

Consumer Sentiment and Inflation Expectations - Consumer sentiment has decreased slightly to 55.1%, below the expected 55.4% [2][3] - One-year inflation expectations have been revised down to 4.7% from 4.8% [2] Political Affiliation Trends - Republican consumer sentiment has declined from 96.3% in August to 92.4% in September, with current conditions dropping from 87.4% to 83.7% [5] - Democratic consumer sentiment shows a more positive trend compared to Republicans [5] Economic Data Overview - Recent economic data has generally exceeded street expectations, indicating a resilient economy [10] - Labor market indicators, such as jobless claims, have come in lower than expected, suggesting normalization [11] Market Reactions - Equity markets initially reacted positively to the PCE data, but have since experienced a pullback [15][16] - The PCE data showed core components indicating persistent inflation, with goods prices up 0.1%, services up 0.3%, food up 0.5%, energy up 0.8%, and housing up 0.4% [17] Future Outlook - The upcoming quarter-end options event is expected to increase market volumes and could lead to rotation in equity markets [19][20]