If Congress doesn’t agree to boost the debt limit, the U.S. government faces a potential default as soon as June 1.
The S&P 500 struggled for direction this week following the release of encouraging inflation data and a weaker-than-expected consumer sentiment report.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Labor Department reported the consumer price index gained 4.9% in April, down from 5% in March and below the 5% inflation economists were expecting. Core CPI inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, was up 5.5%, matching average economist estimates.
On Friday, the University of Michigan reported U.S. consumer sentiment dropped 9.1% on a monthly basis in May and is down 1.2% from a year ago. Consumer sentiment fell to its lowest level since November, while consumers‘ inflation expectations for the next year ticked lower from 4.
