The Week Ahead: Consumer Clues On Deck

Jeremy Glaser: Welcome to The Week Ahead.

As the first quarter wraps up, we'll get a few pieces of data on the state of the consumer. The most closely watched will be the consumption numbers released on Friday. This is key not only because it reveals if consumers are opening their wallets, but also for the embedded inflation measure, which is the Fed's preferred way to gauge if prices are rising. Consumer sentiment and consumer confidence data will also be released, along with the third estimate of fourth-quarter GDP.

There are a handful of earnings, too. We'll be looking to see if Darden can continue its turnaround story; if travel demand is holding up at Carnival; and how BlackBerry is navigating its post-hardware world.

Stay tuned to Morningstar for our take on these stories.