U.S. inflation is slowly moving toward the U.S. Federal Reserve’s 2% target, while it stood at an annualized rate of 1.9% in August, slightly above the expectations of 1.8% of the analysts polled. However, the data did not impress markets with the DXY Index, which measures the strength of the greenback against a basket of currencies, losing 0.3% at the end of the day.
The top winner yesterday was the pound sterling, which rose by 1.4% against the loonie. The Bank of England hinted that a potential tightening of its monetary policy via key rates was on the table and that this could happen as early as November.
North Korea launched a second missile in the Pacific late Thursday night over Japanese airspace. Japan proposed an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. Markets remained calm nonetheless.
Today, all south of the border, we are keeping an eye on Retail Sales, Industrial Production data and the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index.
Yusuf Kocagozli
Range of the day: 1.2080 – 1.2200