Week ahead: The Fed, the UK votes, and tariff watching

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Fresh off the back of robust jobs numbers, the Federal Reserve holds its final scheduled policy meeting of the year.

The two-day meeting is expected to wrap up Wednesday without any change in interest rates. The Fed's key lending rate now sits at 1.5 to 1.75 percent after three rate cuts this year.

But Fed Chair Jerome Powell has indicated that the U.S. central bank is on hold for the time being and will be looking at inflation as the main signal as to when rates should move up or down, despite persistent calls from President Trump for the Fed to slash rates.

There are two updates on inflation this coming week:

The consumer price index is released Wednesday, before the Fed announcement.

Then on Thursday, wholesale inflation figures are due.

Investors also get an update on retail sales as the holiday shopping season continues. Sales in November are expected to be up 0.4 percent after a 0.3 percent rise in October.

Wall Street will also have its eyes on a couple of key international developments:

There's a UK election on Thursday that could determine the direction of Brexit...and the world's biggest-ever IPO, courtesy of Saudi Aramco, starts trading on the Riyadh stock exchange on Wednesday...but watch for talks in the U.S.-China trade war that could decide if another round of tariffs go into effect on December 15th.

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