Fed speak, trade war and corporate earnings to hog market attention

PHOTO: AFPEvery reminder of tariffs slowing business activity drags stocks downwards. Every reminder of a strong US consumer and central-bank stimulus sends them flying towards the skies.

China's war-like posture coincided with a round of economic data that read like a trade-war roll of the dead. Walmart was among the beneficiaries of the burst of mid-summer spending. The world's largest retailer by sales posted surprisingly strong second-quarter sales growth, helped by a rapidly growing digital presence.

"US data releases indicate continued divergence between the industrial and consumer sectors of the US economy," said economists at brokerage Nomura Securities. Weak business spending is already showing up in US data, and economists say the only thing keeping growth going is the consumer.

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