Thursday's inflation print is a crucial event for the market this week. Investors are getting ready for the August consumer price index, which will release on Thursday at 8:30 a.m. ET. The report is expected to inform the Federal Reserve policymakers' decision at their September meeting. Many investors are hoping the central bank will announce its first rate cut since last December — even though the inflation level remains above the Fed's 2% goal. The Fed has explicitly tied its future interest rate cut decisions to its progress on tackling inflation. For the previous month, the CPI is expected to show a year-over-year rise to 2.9% from 2.7%, according to FactSet consensus estimates. Excluding volatile food and energy prices, CPI is expected to have held steady at 0.3% and 3.1% on a monthl

See Full Page