Today's economic calendar will be extremely active, with traders focused primarily on the Federal Open Market Committee report this afternoon and the following press conference by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke.
The day begins with weekly jobless claims and the producer price index, both coming out at 8:30 a.m. ET.
The consensus forecast for new unemployment filings is 370,000, up from the previous week's 365,000, with estimates ranging from 364,000 to 380,000. Continuing claims are expected to decline to 3.3 million from 3.322 million.
The producer price index for August is expected to climb to 1.4 percent from 0.3 percent in July, with estimates ranging from 0.2 percent to 1.8 percent. Excluding food and energy, the consensus forecast is 0.2 percent, down from the previous reading of 0.4 percent and within an estimated range of zero to 0.2 percent.
Bloomberg's Consumer Comfort Index will be released at 9:45 a.m. ET, followed by the weekly EIA natural-gas inventory report at 10:30 a.m. ET. A 30-year Treasury bond auction is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. ET.
The much-anticipated FOMC meeting announcement will come out at 12:30 p.m. ET. Rates are expected to remain unchanged at 0.25 percent.
FOMC forecasts will be released at 1:45 p.m. ET. Federal Reserve Governor Sara Bloom Raskin is scheduled to speak at the same time.
The Treasury's budget for August will be reported at 2 p.m. ET. Analysts expect the budget level to show a deficit of -$160 billion, compared with July's -$69.6 billion. Estimates range from -$175 billion to -$155 billion.
Bernanke's appearance will close out the calendar at 2:15 p.m. ET.
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