August 13, 2024
United States:
US Producer Prices Rise Less Than Forecast, Dragged by Services
US producer prices rose in July by less than forecast, reflecting the first decline in services costs this year amid an ongoing moderation in inflationary pressures.
The producer price index for final demand increased 0.1% from a month earlier, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report released Tuesday. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a 0.2% gain. Compared with a year ago, the PPI rose 2.2%.
United Kingdom:
Pound Gains as Signs of Robust Job Market Defy Rate-Cut Bets
The pound gained on signs the UK jobs market is robust, putting into question bets the Bank of England will deliver two more interest-rate cuts this year.
The currency jumped 0.3% to trade above $1.28 on Tuesday after data showed the unemployment rate unexpectedly fell 0.2 percentage points to 4.2% in the three months to June. Money markets initially trimmed bets on monetary easing, pricing in about 40 basis points of cuts over the rest of 2024 compared to 42 basis points Monday, before paring the move. The yield on UK 10-year debt rose one basis point to 3.93%, but still hovered near a one-week low.
Asia:
China Goes to New Extreme in Crackdown on Bond-Market Frenzy
Chinese authorities are going to extraordinary lengths to tighten their grip on the world’s third-largest government bond market.
In a highly unusual move on Friday, regulators told rural banks in China’s Jiangxi province not to settle recent purchases of government bonds, an order to effectively renege on their market obligations. It was the latest in a string of interventions designed to cool a market rally that sent yields to record lows and stoked official concerns that banks have become too exposed to interest-rate risk.
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