Large stores like Wal-Mart and Target will give an indication of consumer appetite while stores like Home Depot and Loews will provide a proxy for activity levels in construction and manufacturing.
"This is a clear indication that while the government wants to see consumer price growth, achieving that target will not only be tough but also a long drawn process, " said Martin Schulz, of Fujistu Research Institute.
The recent incident of Target using customer analytics to determine that a teen was pregnant before her father knew is an indication of how much companies actually know about us and our activities.