Geoffrey Smith 

Investing.com — A busy week of economic data was highlighted by retail sales and the Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index. As inflation worries are put aside, stocks and oil rise. Goldman Sachs, PNC, and JB Hunt (NASDAQ) all report earnings. The SEC is near to approval of the first ETFs that are based on the. This will allow crypto to be integrated into mainstream financial markets. This is what you should know about financial markets Friday 15 October. 

1. Retail sales, Michigan consumer sentiment due

This week was busy for data, ending with consumer-focused releases of U.S. retail sales figures for September at 8:30AM ET (1230 GMT) as well the Michigan Consumer Sentiment index at 10:30 AM ET.

Analysts anticipate a small drop in sales as a result of the ongoing shift away from good spending to services. Concerning the Michigan report: All eyes will be on inflation expectations, which has only slightly decreased from September’s 10-year high.

Overnight data from Europe showed that consumer prices dropped in September in France, Italy and Spain, which are the 2nd and 3rd largest economies within the euro area. New car registrations fell by more than 20% across the continent due to a shortage of components and chips. Toyota also announced that it would reduce November production by 15% due to continuing shortages. However, the automaker maintained its full-year production targets. This gives hope that things will improve for Toyota.

2. 2.

Bitcoin extended its recently rally to trade within a couple of days’ march of its all-time high, after Bloomberg reported that the U.S. Securities and Exchanges Commission is set to approve the first exchange-traded fund based on Bitcoin futures.

The SEC’s action would be a watershed movement for Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in general, in giving the first official imprimatur to crypto funds accessible by both retail and institutional investors, thus dramatically increasing the scope for mass engagement with the asset class. These ETFs will likely be built on Bitcoin futures prices and settled in cash rather than on Bitcoin.

By 6:15 AM ET (1015 GMT), Bitcoin was up 3.3% at $59,361, while other coins were mixed after riding higher on Bitcoin’s coat-tails over the last week.

3. Stocks poised to rebound, Goldman and PNC earnings eyes.

U.S. stocks may open higher tomorrow, continuing the gains made Thursday following a fall in producer price inflation for September. The result was a dramatic reversal of risk assets.

At 6:15 AM ET they were up 138 points or 0.4% while they were up 0.3% and up 0.3% respectively.

Goldman Sachs will be the next stock to focus, after it finishes a week of earnings at mixed banks. Like rival Morgan Stanley Goldman, (NYSE:), will probably be more affected by main street lending weakness due to its emphasis on investment banking. PNC Financial (NYSE ) may also report, and could be more susceptible to slowing Main Street trends.

Also in focus will be Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:) after the health giant put its liabilities for tens of thousands of lawsuits related to its talc products into a bankruptcy protection process

4. China loosens the rules for mortgages; RRR will not be reduced

Beijing told state-owned banks to speed up their approval of mortgage loans in the last quarter of the year, as the fallout from China Evergrande’s debt problems reverberates through a highly-leveraged real estate sector.

Developers are failing to meet their obligations. This is resulting in incomplete principal or interest payments almost every day. The bond market being closed to refinance, developers are under increasing pressure to sell as much stock as they can in order to increase cash flow.

The Chinese central bank has continued to roll over liquidity in the money markets, without delivering the cut in banks’ reserve ratio requirements that some analysts have predicted. The PBoC prefers to relax monetary policy via the RRR channel rather than cutting key rates.

5. As China and Europe continue to struggle for energy, crude oil marches up

Crude oil is on track for its eighth straight weekly gain, adding a cautionary note to those celebrating Thursday’s numbers as evidence that this year’s spike in inflation is already unwinding.

Futures rose 0.9% to $82.00 per barrel by 6:30 am ET. Futures also rose 0.8% to $84.70 per barrel. They had previously traded over $85 in the past seven years.

Prices continue to be supported by the scramble in Europe and China for fuel, even though data from Thursday confirmed a significant increase in U.S. crude inventory. Chinese coal futures rose another 5.5%, marking a fifth straight record. Comments by Alexander Novak, Russia’s deputy prime minister, that Russia may soon open spot market sales in Europe didn’t help prices.