The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meets again this week to review economic conditions and set monetary policy. On whether the Fed should end quantitative easing or extend it, Atlanta Fed chairman Dennis Lockhart recently said that the Fed should remain flexible given the rising energy prices, which could be a sign of coming inflation. Either at this meeting or the next, the Fed could signal that interest rates will rise as a hedge against inflation.

Inflation will also be the focus when the Department of Labor releases the Producer Price Index (PPI) and Consumer Price Index (CPI) this week. Back in January the core PPI (which excludes energy and food costs) had its biggest jump in two years, and the core CPI had its largest uptick in more than year, the second month in a row in which consumer prices jumped.

Gas prices are rising and show no signs of coming back down. In fact the predictions are for higher prices to come. At the moment, gasoline averages $3.542 per gallon, according the the AAA motorist group, as reported by CNNMoney.

The highest recorded nationwide price was $4.114 on July 17, 2008. Forecasters are looking for the $4.00 per gallon marker to be hit by this summer.

We have yet another food product to add to the inflation list. This time it's cattle. Cattle futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange closed at an all-time high of $1.1752 per pound, as reported in the Wall Street Journal.

Beef is a in a special category. Unlike grains, which are harvested yearly, it takes about three years to raise cattle and bring them to market. High grain prices and high exports have shrunk the size of herds. They are at their lowest levels since the 1950s. With prices so high, some cattle ranchers choose to slaughter their cattle rather than let them mature to full term. These young cattle are called feeder cattle.

Shares of retailer American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) traded sharply higher Wednesday morning after the company posted stronger-than-expected fourth quarter results before the market open.

Going into the earnings report, analysts had been expecting to see the Pittsburgh-based company report earnings of $0.43 per share, but the company beat by a penny with earnings of $0.44. During the same period last year the company had earnings of $0.38 per share.

Applied Materials (AMAT) is the world's largest semiconductor producer. The company has diversified and is producing solar power cells, but its main revenue stream is still mainly coming from crystalline silicon technology.

The company had blowout earnings in the fiscal first quarter, with income of $506 million or 38 cents a share, up from $83 million or six cents a share a year earlier, as reported in the Wall Street Journal. Revenue rose 45% to $2.69 billion from $1.95 billion.

When it comes to picking trends, JPMorgan Chase (JPM) has nailed the latest market to experience explosive growth. It is the fast-growing tablet market, as reported in Reuters.

Morgan's analyst, Mark Moskowitz, has upped his forecasts for tablet sales in 2011 and 2012. For 2011 he raised his numbers from $24.9 to $26.1 billion. For 2012 his numbers are increased from $34.1 billion to $35.2 billion. Unit sales were upped by over 1 million to 48.1 in 2011 and 79.6 in 2012.

This week we turn the calendar page, and that change brings with it a raft of economic data. Scheduled for release on Monday are pending home sales and personal income numbers for January, as well as the Chicago PMI and car and truck sales data for February.

On Tuesday, look for the ISM Manufacturing Index for February and construction spending numbers for January. That's followed on Wednesday by the week's first employment data: the Challenger Job-Cuts announcement and the ADP employment report for February. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will deliver his semiannual monetary policy testimony before Congress on both days.

The most recent datapoint of significance for investors has to be the U.S. Federal Reserve's revised summary of economic projections.

The Fed now sees a stronger U.S. economy in 2011, with the world's largest and most technologically advanced economy expected to grow 3.4% to 3.9%, up from the 3.0% to 3.6% November projection.

The Fed also expects the U.S. economy to grow 3.5% to 4.4% in 2012 and 3.7% to 4.6% in 2013, compared to the November estimates of 3.6% to 4.5% and 3.5% to 4.6%, respectively.

Shares of women's clothing retailer Chico's FAS Inc. (CHS) traded sharply higher Wednesday morning, despite missing its earnings estimate by one penny before the market opened.

Going into this fourth-quarter earnings report, analysts had been expecting to see earnings of $0.13 per share, but the company came up a bit shy at just $0.12.