While the minutes of the most recent Fed meeting will undoubtedly be widely examined, U.S. inflation data might provide better insight into the future of interest rates.

Federal Reserve Minutes

The minutes of the U.S. central bank's September meeting will be released on Wednesday, and market observers will be looking for any hints that may indicate if policymakers are leaning towards another rate rise before the end of the year.

Throughout the week, investors will also have the opportunity to hear from a number of Fed officials, including Boston Fed President Susan Collins, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari, and Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic.

US Inflation Data

This week, the U.S. will disclose the much awaited consumer and producer price index data for September, as investors continue to consider the Fed's slogan of "higher for longer" interest rates.

The CPI data for August showed the greatest growth in 14 months due to rising petrol prices, while core inflation, which excludes expenditures for food and fuel, increased at the weakest rate in over two years.

The nonfarm payrolls surged more than anticipated last month. At the same time, wage growth slowed, according to the jobs statistics released on Friday, suggesting that monetary policy may stay tight for some time.

High inflation data may support the Fed's argument that interest rates should stay higher for longer. Although most traders anticipate another hike, the Fed is largely likely to leave rates constant during its meeting from October 31 to November 1.

Q3 Earnings

With reports from many major banks, the third quarter earnings season has begun. Wall Street investors are looking for a spark to boost equities in the face of rising bond rates.

Investors will be watching the reports from JPMorgan, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo before the market opens on Friday as they search for indications of how rising rates would affect everything from loan demand to consumer behaviour.

The manufacturer of food and drinks PepsiCo, airline Delta, and insurer UnitedHealth Group are among the other corporations scheduled to report this week.

With the S&P 500 still maintaining a 10% gain for the year despite its recent downturn, the next earnings season may determine the direction of equities in the near future.

Crude Oil

Oil prices experienced their worst weekly declines last week since March as macroeconomic headwinds and another partial relaxation of Russia's fuel export embargo added to demand concerns.

On concerns that persistently high-interest rates will impede global development and hurt gasoline consumption, even though Saudi Arabia and Russia have announced they will continue supply cutbacks through the end of the year, WTI suffered a weekly decrease of over 8% and Brent of almost 11%.

In the next week, rising geopolitical threats in the Middle East may affect oil prices.

(Sources: investing.com, reuters.com)