This Week: Delta Earns, Producer Price Index, Retail Sales

A look at some of the key business events and economic indicators upcoming this week:

TURBULENT TRAJECTORY

Delta Air Lines reports its results for the third quarter Tuesday.

Wall Street predicts the airline’s losses mounted after a sharp drop in revenue versus the same quarter last year. The pandemic has led to global decline in air travel, forcing airlines to vastly cut the number of flights and furlough tens of thousands of employees. The industry is hoping for more federal aid in order to avoid having to furlough or lay off thousands more workers in coming weeks.

EYE ON INFLATION

Economists forecast that U.S. wholesale prices edged higher last month.

They expect the Labor Department will report on Wednesday that its producer price index, which measures inflation before it reaches consumers, rose 0.2% in September. That would follow increases of 0.3% in August and 0.6% in July. Over the past 12 months, wholesale prices have declined 0.2% while core prices, which exclude volatile food and energy costs, are up a modest 0.6%.

Producer price index, monthly percent change, seasonally adjusted:

April -1.3

May 0.8

June -0.2

July 0.6

Aug. 0.3

Sept. (est.) 0.2

Source: FactSet

IN A SHOPPING MOOD?

Americans have ramped up spending after a sharp pullback in the spring due to the pandemic, but the pace of that growth has slowed.

U.S. retail sales increased 0.6% in August. That followed increases of 0.9% in July, 8.6% in June and 18.3% in May. One reason spending growth has slowed is many people who lost jobs are no longer receiving a $600-a-week boost in their unemployment checks. Did the trend change in September? Find out Friday, when the Commerce Department serves up its latest retail sales data.

Retail sales, monthly percent change, seasonally adjusted:

April -14.7

May 18.3

June 8.6

July 0.9

Aug. 0.6

Sept. (est.) 0.8

Source: FactSet

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