Futures Now Futures Now: Blog

• Futures Now
• Tutorials
• Blog
• Videos
• Jackie DeAngelis
• Disclaimer

The Federal Reserve now looks set to raise rates in December, partially based on expectation that inflation is set to finally rise to its 2 percent target. There's only one potential problem.

There's actually a way that markets can see where investors think inflation will go. And they do not exactly see eye to eye with America's central bank.

Over the next five years, annual inflation is expected to run at less than 1.3 percent. Even over the next ten, investors are looking for no more than 1.6 percent per year.

The Fed is well aware of this thinking among investors. In fact, the minutes to the Fed's October meeting record that "a couple of members expressed concern about the continued decline in market-based measures of inflation compensation."

To be sure, the comparison here is not apples-to-apples.

The popular market-based measures of inflation referenced above are simply found by comparing the yield on a Treasury bond and a Treasury Inflation-Protected Security (or TIPS) of the same maturity.

Since a TIPS bond pays an investor an amount that varies with the Consumer Price Index (CPI), and a Treasury bond is not adjusted for inflation, the Treasury yield minus the TIPS yield should theoretically produce the market's expectations of inflation. That number is known as a "breakeven rate" (since it is the inflation amount that will make the TIPS investor and the Treasury investor break even with each other).

While the breakeven rate reflects expectations about the more popular CPI inflation rate, the Fed targets the alternative personal consumption expenditures (PCE) metric.

Still, it is the trend in the breakeven rate that the Fed has its eye on, rather than the absolute percentage. And while the PCE and CPI readings may differ from month to month, the measures are almost perfectly correlated over time.

Read MoreUS inflation to rebound next year: Fed's Fischer

One of the biggest stated concerns for stocks over the past year has been the tightening of monetary policy by the Federal Reserve. But for the famously bullish Tom Lee, those who expect a Fed hike to hit stocks are getting something wrong.

When asked about the potential consequences of a Fed rate hike in December, Lee said: "I think markets are really going to embrace this, and it's going to be quite constructive."

Lee, the former JPMorgan strategist now with boutique research firm Fundstrat Global Advisors, said "equity markets are anxious to really get some clarity from the Fed, and of course we interpret that to mean the Fed to start moving," particularly after so many months of speculation about when the first hike would come.

A December move wouldn't exactly be a shock to the market; to the contrary, "we know fixed income markets and credit have priced in some type of move," Lee said Thursday on CNBC's "Futures Now."

Read MoreFed Vice Chair Fischer signals rate hike

Investors are clearly obsessed with the question of when the Federal Reserve will first raise rates. Yet it's the pace of future increases that could ultimately be more important for risk assets.

Fed presidents James Bullard and Jeffrey Lacker made headlines this week when they told reporters that the any rate hikes after the first one will not necessarily be gradual, and will not be on a predetermined path.

To be fair, they are among the most hawkish members of the Federal Open Markets Committee. Lacker's was the the lone dissent to the Fed's decision not to raise rates in September, and Bullard has said that he would have dissented had he had a vote, which he will in 2016.

Read MoreEconomy delivers another headache to the Fed

Still, the idea that subsequent rate target increases will be gradual no matter when the Fed hikes has become a key part of market speculation. Fed chair Janet Yellen frequently directs attention away from hike number one to the slow hikes beyond it.

Meanwhile, Bullard's and Lacker's comments served to remind investors that if the Fed's actions are truly data-dependent, such vows can really only serve as a forecast.

If inflation finally picks up, as the Fed's hawks expect it will, the central bank would obviously be hard-pressed to increase rates rapidly in order to fulfill its mandate to maintain stable prices — particularly since the "maximum employment" side of its mandate appears to be well-met with job creation on the rise.

But that doesn't prevent the doves from suggesting a promise-heavy policy path.

"It is critically important to me that when we first raise rates the FOMC also strongly and effectively communicates its plan for a gradual path for future rate increases," Chicago Fed president Charlie Evans said in a Thursday speech.

He explained that if the committee failed to provide such guidance, it would be an "important policy error" because it might induce people to believe the Fed "is less inclined to provide the degree of accommodation that I think is appropriate for the timely achievement of our dual mandate objectives."

Whether or not such a belief would be justified is a separate question entirely.

Crude oil is pacing for its worst weekly performance in the last three months as concerns about slowing global growth and a strengthening dollar have commodity traders hitting the sell button. And that has one group of traders very happy: short sellers.

"Open interest increased by 33,000 contacts on [Wednesday], so that's a significant addition of shorts," BNP Paribas' head of U.S. cash equity trading, Darren Wolfberg, said Thursday on CNBC's "Futures Now." Government data released Thursday showed U.S. supplies rose for the seventh straight week.

Wolfberg explained that when open interest rises on a day that an asset is down — crude oil fell 3 percent Wednesday — it means that traders are making new bets that the price will go lower. Conversely, he added that in early October, the increase in open interest was tied to a move higher in crude oil, reflecting more long positions.

"This is actually a good barometer to know the underlying flows of the marketplace," he said. When investors go short, they are betting a security or commodity will fall in value.

Read MoreOil price collapsing, could set new low

The Grinch has nothing on Peter Schiff.

On CNBC's "Futures Now" Thursday, the contrarian investor said that while Americans are wrapping presents this holiday season, they should instead brace themselves for "a horrible Christmas" and possible recession.

"I expect [job] layoffs to start picking up by the end of the year," Schiff said, pointing to retailers as the first victim. "Retailers have overestimated the ability of their customers to buy their products. Americans are broke. They are loaded up with debt," he said. "We're teetering on the edge of an official recession," and "the labor market is softening."

For Schiff, there is no one else to blame but the Federal Reserve. As he sees it, the central bank's easy money policies have created a bubble so big that any prick could send the U.S. economy spiraling out of control. And that makes the possibility of hiking interest rates slim to none.

Read MoreOil driving markets, not Fed: Cashin

"The Fed has to talk about raising rates to pretend the whole recovery is real, but they can't actually raise them," said the CEO of Euro Pacific Capital. "[Fed Chair Janet Yellen] can't admit that she can't raise them because then she's admitting the whole recovery is a sham and that the policy was a failure."

It's been a tough year for commodities.

Gold, crude oil and natural gas are down a respective 6, 11 and 21 percent in 2015. Those returns have caused the S&P GSCI commodity index to hit its lowest level since the financial crisis. It's also on track for its fourth worst year on record, but according to one expert, there could be signs of a bottom.

"The ugliest month [of the year] was in July where every single commodity was negative except one," Jodie Gunzberg told CNBC's "Futures Now" on Tuesday. "But we had a major comeback in October; where more than half became positive on the month, and we've never seen that kind of swing before when so many commodities were down."

Read MoreOil surges as gasoline adds to rally

Gunzberg, global head of commodities at S&P Dow Jones Indices, noted there were two other instances in the S&P GSCI commodity index where a sharp rebound resulted in a short-term bottom for commodities. "In January 2009, 11 single commodities came back just before the S&P GSCI hit its bottom," she said. Gunzberg noted there was a similar pattern in 1998, where the space staged an incredible comeback off the low.

It's been a good quarter to do well.

S&P 500 companies that have beaten earnings estimates in the third quarter have seen their stocks rise by an average of 2.2 percent in the four-day period surrounding earnings, according to FactSet. That's double the 1.1 percent gain that earnings beaters have tended to enjoy.

Meanwhile, stocks that have missed earnings estimates have slid 2 percent from two days before earnings until two days after. In contrast, that's actually smaller than the average 2.2 percent decline.

Still, not many company have missed. Of the first 340 S&P 500 companies to report earnings for the third quarter, 76 percent of them have beaten estimates, FactSet reports, which is above historical averages.

Among the top gainers on earnings are semiconductor stock KLA-Tencor, which rose 23 percent in the four sessions surrounding earnings, real estate company CBRE Group, which jumped 11 percent in the similar period, and Abbvie, which rose 13 percent from two days ahead of earnings to Friday's close.

Read MoreThis surprising stat suggests the rally could be in trouble

Stocks are starting off the week by taking a break from this month's substantial rally, amid disappointing data about industrial activity and consumer sentiment, and potential anxiety over the Federal Reserve's Wednesday statement. But despite these concerns, along with a "mediocre" earnings season, one economist said he expects stocks will continue to grind higher.

Jerry Webman, chief economist of OppenheimerFunds, said there's no way the Federal Reserve will decide to raise interest rates in the October meeting. And for a December rate hike to come into play, economic data would have to strengthen significantly.

"They have no reason to move rates higher at this point," Webman said Tuesday on CNBC's "Futures Now." "I know they've got this lingering fear of financial stability somewhere being a problem. But they want to see the whites of its eyes before they start shooting."

And until central banks are well into tightening cycles, stocks will continue to see gains, Webman said.

Crude oil prices fell 2 percent Tuesday to their lowest level since late August as concerns over supply and demand continued to weigh on the market. Oil is now down 16 percent from its Oct. 9 high, and one expert warns the commodity could hit sub-$40 levels sooner than later.

"I think we're going to continue to go lower and hit $40 and then [retest the August low]," Andy Lipow said Tuesday on CNBC's "Futures Now."

Read More US crude settles down 78 cents at 2-month low of $43.20

For the president of Lipow Oil Associates, the crude oil market will remain under severe pressure as diesel fuel floods it "With the Chinese economy slowing down and less money being spent on construction, China is exporting more diesel fuel," he said. "Those supplies combined with the robust exports of diesel from Saudi Arabia and the U.S. have produced a glut of diesel fuel and jet fuel," Lipow added. "This is just bad news for the energy complex."

The coming week will be a massive event for earnings, with more than 150 S&P 500 Index companies set to report — including such behemoths as Apple and Exxon Mobil.

Yet for some traders, the biggest worry isn't the volatility that could be stirred by the reports, but rather a fact about the market's historical performance.

Read MoreFed could be a snooze but these reports will be big

Using data going back to the creation of the S&P 500 in 1957, technical analyst John Kosar of Asbury Research found that "the fourth week of October, which is next week, is seasonally the weakest of the entire fourth quarter."