This was way out of line with anything that economists had expected. They actually expected that Industrial Production in America grew in August.

This becomes important because Industrial Production is one of the key components that economists use in forecasting the future course of our economy. Right now, the estimates are in the 5% growth range.

But that groan you hear in the background is economists around the country going back to their spreadsheets and once again lowering their forward estimates.

All that changed dramatically on January 20th of this year. That's the day that President Biden was sworn in. We've never seen a President by Fiat and Executive Order make so many changes to the way our country operates. And many of those changes were directly aimed at changing economic policy.

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Also hanging over the Street is the realization that somehow, someway we're going to have to pay for all that glorious Stimulus that we enjoyed over the past year. And so far, at least, the Street really doesn't like any of the suggestions.

The Street expects that this report is going to get hammered. That it will show about a 390 million barrel reduction in current storage. And remember this is just the reduction due to hurricane IDA.

Nicholas just came ashore this morning, and should further reduce our oil storage. Look for today's report to be bad, but next week's report to be a real blockbuster. So once again the Street looks for a reduction of 390 million barrels of oil in today's Crude Oil Stock Report.

This morning, as they do every month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released two reports on inflation. Regular Inflation, the one everyone watches, and the one which makes all the headlines. The BLS also released the core inflation rate. This is a measure of inflation EXCLUDING food and energy.

Democrats are once again fighting Donald Trump.

Taking aim at Trump they hit corporate America right in the wallet. Nancy Pelosi and the Democrat Controlled House Ways and Means Committee are proposing raising corporate taxes by better than 26% and the tax on wealthy Americans by an equal amount.

There's nothing like stimulating the economy with higher taxes. I think Ms. Pelosi and her retinue need to decide which way they're going: pro-business or pro-tax.

It does seem that what we're watching is a change in the overall inflation sentiment. And sentiment, as we know, can definitely affect the finances of America.

Apple Computer,is the undisputed leader of this bull market, with a market capitalization of over 2 ½ trillion dollars. And on this Friday past, this same Apple Computer faced two big challenges. The first was in court, the second in the stock market.

This week we have no fewer than 7 major reports, and one estimate on inflation. If the analysts are correct we should see rising inflation from France, Italy , Spain, Canada, and Great Britain.

Each week analysts and economists take a careful look at the coming economic reports for the week. And when you put all this brain power together, it turns out that they're remarkably accurate.