By Christiana Sciaudone
Investing.com -- Markets rose Thursday with the Fed's position on inflation.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank will take a flexible approach to targeting inflation, which it still expects to be 2% over time. When inflation is running below 2% for a period of time "appropriate monetary policy" will be taken. Banks moved higher.
Walmart (NYSE:WMT) rose as the company confirmed that it would partner with Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) to acquire social media company TikTok. Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) was higher as the U.S. plans to buy 150 million Covid-19 tests from the company.
U.S. President Donald Trump takes the virtual stage later at the 2020 Republican National Convention from the White House. He is looking to hold onto his job in the final night of the program.
Here are three things that may move markets tomorrow:
1. Retail earnings
Big Lots (NYSE:BIG) is expected to report earnings per share of $2.71 on sales of $1.58 billion. Shares of the retailer opened Thursday at their highest in two years. Big Lots will publish results after Walmart and Dollar General (NYSE:DG) reported stellar earnings for the most recent quarter.
2. Tech earnings
Dell is expected to report earnings per share of $1.37 on sales of 22.44 billion. Shares are up 21% since the start of the year. Rival Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) reported earnings per share of $2.58 on revenue of $59.69 billion earlier in late July, besting analyst estimates on both.
3. Economic data
The Federal Reserve’s favorite inflation gauge, personal consumption expenditures excluding food and energy, are due in the morning at 8:30 AM ET (1230 GMT).
The core PCE price index is seen posting a rise of 0.5%, with an annual rate of 1.2% for July, compared to 0.9% in the previous month.