Equities held steady at the freshly set all-time highs on Thursday as the market gears up for the true peak of earnings season. While there have been a fair amount of earnings reports delivered it pales in comparison to what the market will get over the next two weeks. Roughly 50% of the S&P 500 will report earnings for the 3rd quarter and set the tone for trading over the next two to three months. So far, a higher number of S&P 500 company?s than average have been beating their estimates but that could quickly change. The real risk, however, is in the guidance and far too many company?s are lowering their targets for earnings.

Next week will also be an important week for economic data. There are not a lot of economic reports out but the most important report of the month comes out on Friday. The monthly read of income and spending includes the Fed?s favored tool for measuring consumer-level inflation, the PCE price index.