Retail earnings, inventories, retail earnings on Wednesday

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Retail earnings, inventories, retail earnings on Wednesday

Here are the events that take place on Wednesday.

A busy week for retail earnings will put extra focus on the retail sales report of the government in July.

RETAIL SALES: Economists surveyed by Refinitiv anticipate consumer spending to increase by 0.1% month-over-month, well below June's stronger than expected increase of 1.0%.

In July, spending was slipping by 0.1% compared to a 1.0% rise the previous month, as reflected by the absence of the automotive component. The retail sales data isn't adjusted for inflation, so there is no way to know if sales are up because more goods were purchased or because consumers just paid more to cover higher prices.

RETAIL EARNINGS: The parade of retail earnings continues Wednesday morning with Lowe's and big box department store chain Target in the spotlight. The parent of off-price department store TJ Maxx and children's apparel retailer Children's Place, watch for numbers from TJX Companies.

The focus will be on the computer networking giant and Dow member, Cisco Systems, in the afternoon. We'll hear from Bath Body Works.

MORE ECONOMY: Another number traders will have an eye on will be June business inventories at 10 a.m. They are expected to increase by 1.4% on the month, matching May's increase.

The Energy Information Administration released its inventory report last week. The previous week, crude stockpiles were expected to decrease by 275,000 barrels, following a massive build of 5.458 million barrels. Watch for a build of 440,000 barrels of distillate supplies in distillate supplies for heating oil, diesel fuel and a draw of 1.1 million barrels in gasoline inventories.

ELON MUSK: He took to Twitter early Wednesday morning to say he was just joking when he said he was buying the English soccer club Manchester United.

When asked if he was serious about the purchase, Must replied, No, this is a long-running joke on Twitter. He said that if he were to buy a sports team, it would be because it was his favorite team when he was a kid.

Musk has joked about buying other companies, including Coca-Cola and McDonald's.