One Big Week for Economic News

For the so-called summer doldrums, this week has shaped up as a significant one for investors, policy makers, and other watchers of economic data. From both sides of the Atlantic a number of key economic events are scheduled over the next four days. The most critical for the U.S. are two days of meetings by the Federal Reserve’s rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee, which may signal further loosening to boost the U.S. recovery, and at the European Central Bank, which may clarify how it plans to save the euro zone. But plenty of other announcements crowd the economic calendar. By the coming weekend, we should know a lot more about the state of the world economy.

Tuesday, July 31
Personal income and outlays in the U.S. The consensus view of economists polled by Bloomberg News is a month-to-month gain of 0.4 percent. Higher income means higher consumption.