Good morning contrarians! Stock index futures are searching for direction ahead of the latest inflation report, which is producer prices out at 0830. We do have Dr. Copper moving lower due to some subdued loan growth data out of China overnight.

That leaves us pondering the subdued risk appetite from investors, which is now in its second straight week — and what might change that. Major indexes are due for another week of losses and it’s kind of hard to see where a catalyst for more buying will come from. Yesterday’s CPI should have been the type of thing to bring buyers out and it did for a few hours but we finished only modestly higher.

Retailer earnings next week should do something, though that ‘something’ could of course be to scare investors. It’s a quiet week for economic data releases. Then the August doldrums set in for real. Is there even a Jackson Hole this year? If so, will anybody be paying attention?

More in today’s briefing and podcast: