It's the last week of August. Several economic reports will be released in the coming days. They include the US deflator of consumer expenditures that the Federal Reserve targets, China's PMI, and the eurozone's preliminary August CPI. It is not that the data do not matter, but investors realize the die is cast. They are looking further afield. The next US tax increase on Chinese imports goes into effect on September 1, and Beijing has threatened to retaliate. The Federal Reserve and the ECB will ease policy in the coming weeks. The twice-delayed Japanese sales tax hike will be implemented in about five weeks. A ... (full story)