Personal income and spending, Kroger earnings, Ulta outlook: 3 things to watch

By Liz Moyer

Investing.com -- Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell boosted stocks on Wednesday, sending the Dow up more than 500 points despite saying there was still work to be done to bring down inflation.

It was the news investors expected, along with his teeing up a smaller half-percentage point interest rate hike in December, when the Fed meets for the last time this year.

The remarks follow similar comments by other Fed officials, who have warned in recent days that the Fed will keep interest rates higher for longer to tame inflation.

While job openings for October came in slightly higher than expected, and private payrolls were lower than forecast, the second print of third-quarter gross domestic product came in above expectations.

Thursday will bring data on personal spending and income and that all tees up Friday's job report for November. Analysts expect the economy added 200,000 jobs for the month, which would be down from October.

Here are three things that could affect markets tomorrow:

1. Income and spending

Personal income for October is due out at 8:30 ET (13:30 GMT). Analysts expect it to rise 0.4% from the prior month, when it rose 0.4% as well. Personal spending is seen rising 0.8% from September's 0.6% gain.

2. Kroger earnings

Grocery chain giant Kroger Company (NYSE:KR) is expected to report earnings of 81 cents on revenue of $34 billion. Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG), which also reports, is seen with EPS of $2.54 on revenue of $9.4B.

3. Ulta Beauty earnings

Cosmetics retailer Ulta Beauty Inc (NASDAQ:ULTA) is expected to report earnings of $4.11 on revenue of $2.2B as consumers continued to buy their lipstick and hair products despite inflation.