Economy hard to figure out
U.S. stocks are expected to remain choppy next week as investors look to key employment and manufacturing reports to determine whether the economy is headed for a recession next year.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said in a speech this week that inflation has been “better behaved of late” and that the economy is on track to expand at a moderate pace over the next year without much of a slowdown.
But more investors are hedging their bets against Bernanke’s projection. The odds that the Fed will cut rates early next year jumped after Friday’s weak manufacturing report.