Noisy Quiet Period

I wouldn't call this week's US data docket inconsequential, but it'd certainly be fair to say there's nothing due that'll be decisive for the policy narrative as the Fed enters its pre-meeting quiet period. If there's a headliner, it's retail sales, which probably rose 0.5% in June, economists suspect. The update on nominal spending is germane, but absent a big surprise (in either direction) which isn't tempered or otherwise "offset" by divergent reads on the underlying aggregates (i.e., ex-au