It's a packed week ahead with U.S. inflation data, the start of Q3 earnings, a French budget and possibly a big rate cut from New Zealand. Investors are also on edge as Middle East tensions escalate,

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Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Austan Goolsbee would like to freeze the U.S. economy right where it is today. With inflation closing in on a 2% annual rate, full employment, and gross-domestic-product growth in the neighborhood of 3% annually,

That's not so far off from the Fed's preferred 2% target. In light of that, the Fed lowered its benchmark interest rate on September 18 by half a percentage point. And it's a move consumers will likely be celebrating in the coming weeks and months.

Friday’s job market figures in the US were very strong, suggesting that in fact there was no need for a large rate cut. This is the kind of macro climate we have seen in the mid and late 1990’s.