Consumer sentiment, inflation data, Chevron earnings: 3 things to watch

By Liz Moyer

Investing.com -- Stocks good a boost from tech on Thursday  after Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA)'s better than expected results for the fourth quarter.

Thursday's preliminary reading of gross domestic product for the final three months of 2022 was also stronger than expected, raising worries that the Federal Reserve would continue to raise interest rates aggressively.

But most market watchers expect the Fed to hike by a quarter of a percentage point when it decides next week, and that pace would be slower than at its previous few meetings. The Fed sees rates heading about 5% this year, but Fed officials have recently indicated they favor slowing the pace of increases amid signs the economy is cooling.

The December GDP reading did confirm that, as the 2.9% growth in the quarter was lower than the 3.2% recorded for the third quarter.

Friday brings more data on consumer sentiment and inflation, two things the Fed could be watching closely as it heads into its first policy meeting of the year on Tuesday.

Here are three things that could affect markets tomorrow:

1. Consumer sentiment

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment reading for January comes out at 10:00 ET (15:00 GMT). Analysts expect it will be 64.6, which is the same as the previous reading.

2. Inflation data

The Fed likes to watch for the core PCE, or core personal consumption expenditure index. The index for December will come out tomorrow at 8:30 ET, and analysts expect it to rise 0.3% for the month from November, compared with 0.2% the prior month. Personal income is seen rising 0.2% for the month, while personal spending is seen falling 0.2%.

3. Chevron earnings

Oil major Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX) is expected to report earnings of $4.42 a share on revenue of $53.8 billion. Chevron has announced a plan to buy back $75 billion of stock.