Looking Ahead: August 26 through August 30, 2013

Equities mostly declined last week as investors worried about what would be said in the FOMC minutes. Mostly favorable economic data in the industrial countries helped to neutralize the impact of the minutes. Growth in both Germany and the UK picked up in the second quarter — certainly good news. Further, flash PMI readings tended to substantiate growth going forward and not just for Germany and the UK. China’s PMI surprised in edged over the breakeven point with a reading of 50.1 indicating that manufacturing is stabilizing — certainly good news to supplier countries. The last week of summer is already here! As always, the last week of the month is a busy one with new economic data from Europe and the usual slew of releases from Japan. Investors will shift their attention to FedSpeak as they gear up for the FOMC September meeting.