Investors this week won't have to deal with the former FBI director calling the president a liar or a landmark election in the UK that was almost destined to defy expectations.

For that, we can be thankful. However, it will be no picnic dealing with another interest rate hike or important economic news or generally facing a market that has to go down sometime. Doesn't it?

The main event

The big enchilada for the week is going to happen Tuesday and Wednesday when the Federal Reserve , the U.S. central bank that decides where interest rates are heading, meets in Washington.

Unless something completely off the wall happens in the next couple of days, the Fed is going to approve another quarter-point hike. That's important for a lot of reasons.

First, the Fed's benchmark rate determines what happens with virtually all variable-rate credit products. So if you've got an adjustable-rate mortgage, a home equity line of credit or credit cards in general, expect to pay a few dollars more. The prime rate generally gets reset almost immediately after the Fed's decision comes down, so you'll feel the impact soon.

Second, while the market feels like it knows what the Fed will do, it's almost as important learning why they did it. So investors will want to peruse the post-meeting statement closely for clues about what's ahead. With the economy wobbling of late and the market steaming, a lot is riding on what happens.

Third, we'll get another look at where the Fed sees growth heading and where rates will be over the longer term, through the summary of economic projections. This is always an attention-getter for the market.

And another thing ...

Here's just a little tidbit to look for during all that post-Fed hand-wringing naval-gazing analysis: Watch for the expression "dovish hike." It's a term that Fed geeks apply when the central bank raises rates but issues caution about the economic landscape and indicates a slow pace ahead for further increases.

March's rate hike came with some highly tepid views of where the economy is heading, and this week's meeting is likely to have more of the same. Those two little words are likely to be not far from the lips of the Fed punditry.

Data detail

On balance, the economic news lately has been not great. When looking at the various reports compared to expectations, the economy is running at its weakest level since February 2016. We'll get a chance this week to turn that around with a big pile of numbers to peruse.

Here's what the U.S. data slate is looking like: