The week ahead is relatively quiet from the U.S. but investors will be scrutinizing the inflation data due on Wednesday.

If core inflation and headline inflation shows signs of rising, it could convince Fed officials to lobby for another rate hike as early as March.

However, forecasts show that both headline and core inflation could ease in January.

Economists expect headline inflation to rise 0.3% on a month over month basis. This would bring the headline CPI to an annual gain of 1.9%, somewhat lower than December’s increase to 2.1%.

Core CPI is forecast to rise 1.7% on the year, slower than 1.8% that was registered last month.

Retail sales figures will also be coming out and the data is expected to show a slower pace of increase in retail sales for January.

Economists forecast headline retail sales to rise 0.2% on the month while retail sales excluding autos are expected to rise 0.5%, advancing from 0.4% in the previous month.

Contributing to a mixed figure, economists note that with saving rate depressed, consumer might be saving rather than spending.

Furthermore, the recent increase in inflation and the cold weather might have probably put a dent in retail sales for the month of January.