ASIA:

Singapore’s key measure of consumer prices rose again at the fastest pace in more than 13 years in July, official data showed on Tuesday, increasing pressure on the central bank to consider further policy tightening later this year. The acceleration in inflation was mainly due to stronger growth in food, electricity, and gas prices, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Ministry of Trade and Industry said in a statement. Core inflation – the central bank’s preferred price measure – rose to 4.8% year-on-year in July. A Reuters poll of economists had forecast a rise of 4.7%. Core and headline inflation rates were 4.4% and 6.7% in June. The MAS core inflation forecast for this year is between 3% and 4%, while headline inflation is expected to be between 5% and 6%.

Video-sharing platform YouTube generated over 350 billion yen ($2.5 billion) in economic effects in Japan last year, partly through advertising revenues paid to content creators, a private-sector survey showed Tuesday. Increased usage of the website due to the coronavirus pandemic has helped boost the economic impact from 239 billion yen in the previous year, according to results from the survey commissioned by the U.S. company to British research firm Oxford Economic.

The major Asian stock markets had a mixed day today:

• NIKKEI 225 increased 316.62 points or 1.14% to 28,195.58
• Shanghai decreased 13.51 points or -0.42% to 3,227.22
• Hang Seng decreased 74.19 points or -0.37% to 19,949.03
• Kospi increased 24.04 points or 0.99% to 2,450.93
• ASX 200 increased 32.80 points or 0.47% to 6,998.30
• SENSEX increased 1,564.45 points or 2.70% to 59,537.07
• Nifty50 increased 446.40 points or 2.58% to 17,759.30

The major Asian currency markets had a mixed day today:

• AUDUSD decreased 0.00460 or -0.67% to 0.68593
• NZDUSD decreased 0.00170 or -0.28% to 0.61350
• USDJPY increased 0.053 or 0.04% to 138.709
• USDCNY increased 0.00800 or 0.12% to 6.92274

Precious Metals:

Gold decreased 13.97 USD/t oz. or -0.80% to 1,723.85

Silver decreased 0.372 USD/t. oz or -1.98% to 18.411

Some economic news from last night:

Australia:

Building Approvals (MoM) (Jun) decreased from -0.6% to -17.2%

Private House Approvals (Jul) increased from -1.8% to 0.7%

Japan:

Jobs/applications ratio (Jul) increased from 1.27 to 1.29

Unemployment Rate (Jul) remain the same at 2.6%

EUROPE/EMEA:

British credit card borrowing rose at the fastest pace since 2005 in the 12 months to July, Bank of England data showed on Tuesday, a potential sign that some households are struggling to make ends meet as the cost-of-living rises. Credit card borrowing rose by a net £740m ($869m) month-on-month, down from £945m in June but up 13% from a year earlier, the biggest annual increase since October 2005. Average interest rate Credit card borrowings cards rose to 21.7% in July, the most since late 1998, the data show.

The European Central Bank should include a 75-basis point increase in interest rates among its options for the September policy meeting due to exceptionally high inflation, Estonian politician Madis Muller said on Tuesday. With inflation nearing double-digit territory, the ECB is almost certain to raise rates again on September 8, and a number of policymakers are now proposing another big move after July’s 50 basis point hike. He warned against too much timidity with policy tightening, as inflation, which will still be higher before the decline next year, is more than four times the ECB’s 2% target.

The major Europe stock markets had a mixed day:

CAC 40 decreased 12.06 points or -0.19% to 6,210.22

FTSE 100 decreased 65.68 points or -0.88% to 7,361.63

DAX 30 increased 68.15 points or 0.53% to 12,961.14

The major Europe currency markets had a mixed day today:

• EURUSD increased 0.00163 or 0.16% to 1.00230
• GBPUSD decreased 0.00551 or -0.47% to 1.16592
• USDCHF increased 0.00583 or 0.60% to 0.97393

Some economic news from Europe today:

Swiss:

KOF Leading Indicators (Aug) decreased from 90.5 to 86.5

Spain:

Spanish Business Confidence decreased from -5.3 to -6.1

Spanish CPI (YoY) decreased from 10.8% to 10.4%

Spanish CPI (MoM) increased from -0.3% to 0.1%

Spanish HICP (MoM) increased from -0.6% to 0.1%

Spanish HICP (YoY) (Aug) decreased from 10.7% to 10.3%

Spanish Retail Sales (YoY) (Jul) decreased from 0.7% to -0.5%

Italy:

Italian Industrial Sales (MoM) (Jun) decreased from 1.20% to -0.20%

Italian Industrial Sales (YoY) (Jun) decreased from 23.60% to 18.00%

Germany:

German CPI (MoM) (Aug) remain the same at 0.3%

German CPI (YoY) (Aug) remain the same at 7.9%

German HICP (MoM) (Aug) remain the same at 0.4%

German HICP (YoY) (Aug) remain the same at 8.8%

UK:

BoE Consumer Credit (Jul) decreased from 1.772B to 1.425B

M4 Money Supply (MoM) (Jul) increased from -0.3% to 0.5%

Mortgage Approvals (Jul) increased from 63.18K to 63.77K

Mortgage Lending (Jul) decreased from 5.31B to 5.05B

Net Lending to Individuals decreased from 7.1B to 6.5B

Euro Zone:

Business and Consumer Survey (Aug) decreased from 98.9 to 97.6

Business Climate (Aug) decreased from 1.11 to 0.83

Consumer Confidence (Aug) remain the Same at -24.9

Consumer Inflation Expectation (Aug) decreased from 42.7 to 36.8

Selling Price Expectations (Aug) decreased from 45.3 to 43.7

Services Sentiment (Aug) decreased from 10.4 to 8.7

Industrial Sentiment (Aug) decreased from 3.4 to 1.2

US/AMERICAS:

Despite a slowdown in sales, US home prices in June soared 18% YoY, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices. The 10-city composite advanced 17.4% YoY, while the 20-city composite soared 18.6%. Tampa saw the most significant increase, with home prices rising by 35%, followed by Miami (33%), and Dallas (28.2%).

New York Fed President John Williams reiterated what every member of the central bank has stated in recent weeks – rates will continue to rise until inflation declines. “This is not something we’re going to do for a very short period and then change course,” Williams said regarding continual rate hikes. Both Williams and Powell said that the hikes would last for “some time” with no clear indication as to when they expect inflation to reach the 2% target.

US Market Closings:

• Dow declined 308.12 points or -0.96% to 31,790.87
• S&P 500 declined 44.45 points or -1.1% to 3,986.16
• Nasdaq declined 134.53 points or -1.12% to 11,883.14
• Russell 2000 declined 27.35 points or -1.45% to 1,855.59

Canada Market Closings:

• TSX Composite declined 323.22 points or -1.63% to 19,512.9
• TSX 60 declined 20.03 points or -1.63% to 19,512.9

Brazil Market Closing:

• Bovespa declined 1,892.48 points or -1.68% to 110,430.64

ENERGY:

The oil markets had a negative day today:

Crude Oil decreased 5.405 USD/BBL or -5.57% to 91.605

Brent decreased 6.42 USD/BBL or -6.11% to 98.670

Natural gas decreased 0.348 USD/MMBtu or -3.71% to 9.0381

Gasoline decreased 0.1668 USD/GAL or -5.80% to 2.7108

Heating oil decreased 0.0725 USD/GAL or -1.85% to 3.8374

The above data was collected around 14:25 EST on Tuesday

Top commodity gainers: Orange Juice (5.04%), Feeder Cattle (1.33%), Oat (4.00%) and Lean Hogs (1.36%)

Top commodity losers: Rubber (-4.18%), Gasoline (-5.80%), Brent (-6.11%) and Crude Oil (-5.57%)

The above data was collected around 14:32 EST on Tuesday.

BONDS:

Japan 0.225%(-1.5bp), US 2’s 3.47% (+0.041%), US 10’s 3.1155% (+0.55bps); US 30’s 3.23% (-0.017%), Bunds 1.504% (-0.1bp), France 2.125% (-0.5bp), Italy 3.8120% (+1.2bp), Turkey 12.94% (+0bp), Greece 4.010% (-2.4bp), Portugal 2.624% (+1.9bp); Spain 2.728% (+2.7bp) and UK Gilts 2.7040% (+9.3bp).

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