Wall Street week ahead: Reports on consumer confidence and inflation on tap

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NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street will get key updates next week on closely-watched measures for consumer confidence and inflation.

The latest consumer confidence report from business group The Conference Board will be released Tuesday. Wall Street expects the report to show that confidence in the U.S. economy fell again in August after slipping in July.

Consumer confidence has been weak most of the year as inflation remains stubbornly high. The U.S. war with Iran helped fuel inflation by stifling oil supplies worldwide. That raised gasoline prices, squeezing household budgets. It has also raised costs for shipping a wide range of products, from groceries to clothing.

Wall Street will get another important inflation update on Wednesday when the U.S. releases its report on personal consumption expenditures, or PCE, for July. It is the Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation. Much like the consumer price index, it has shown that the rate of inflation remains stubbornly above 3%.

The Fed has been struggling to get inflation back to its target rate of 2%. It came close in early 2025 but then inflation started creeping higher as the U.S. imposed a wide range of tariffs globally. The rate of inflation leaped higher in early 2026 as the Iran war curtailed global oil shipments from the Strait of Hormuz.

The Fed is expected to continue holding its benchmark interest rate steady at its upcoming meeting in September.