The sell-off on Wall Street picked up momentum last week following the hotter-than-expected CPI data. The data showed an unexpected acceleration in consumer level inflation that has the FOMC on track to hike rates by another 75 basis points this week at least. The risk now is the FOMC will try to front-run the inflation because it is so far behind the curve and that would mean even more aggressive actions and possibly a 100 basis points interest rate hike. The takeaway for investors is that economic conditions are changing rapidly and soft-landing may be impossible to orchestrate.

Also on tap this week is a raft of housing data including the NAHB index, permits, starts, and existing home sales. More importantly, we'll get a read on the index of leading indicators and it is expected to be negative. If so, this would be the 5th consecutive month of negative readings and may indicate the contraction in economic activity caused by inflation and the Fed is getting worse.