Insights
Last week, a series of U.S. employment data fueled concerns about a potential economic recession, causing the S&P 500 to drop 4.2%, marking its worst weekly performance since January 2022. U.S. 2-year and 10-year Treasury yields fell, reflecting market expectations of a more aggressive rate cut path for the rest of the year, with the 10-year/2-year Treasury yield spread turning positive. The U.S. dollar index also declined as expectations for more significant Federal Reserve rate cuts rose. Below is a recap of key economic data from last week:
Insights
As the unwinding of yen carry trades came to an end, the market returned to a more stable state, though it remains highly sensitive to economic data. The S&P 500’s gains narrowed due to underperformance in some tech stocks, while it also faced the challenge of reaching new highs. Meanwhile, U.S. 2-year and 10-year Treasury yields edged higher due to shifting expectations around rate cuts, though the overall yield spread narrowed to a range of -10 to 0 basis points. The U.S. Dollar Index also saw a slight increase, driven by reduced expectations of rate cuts from the Federal Reserve.
Insights
The Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) released the consumer price data on August 22, showing that the July CPI increased by 2.8% year-over-year, the same as the previous month, and slightly above market expectations by 0.1%.
This sustained growth was mainly due to a significant rise in electricity and gas prices, which drove energy prices up by 12.0% (compared to 7.7% the previous month). However, the year-over-year increase in fresh food prices fell to 4.2% (down from 8.2% the previous month), offsetting some of the overall increase.
The core CPI, which excludes fresh food, increased by 2.7% year-over-year, slightly higher than the previous month’s 2.6%, marking the 28th consecutive month above the Bank of Japan’s 2% inflation target. Further excluding energy, the double core CPI rose by 1.9%, down by 0.3% from the previous month, marking the first time it has fallen below 2% since September 2022.
At the end of July, the Bank of Japan unexpectedly raised interest rates by 15 basis points, causing significant market volatility. Subsequently, the Bank of Japan Governor stated that there would be no rate hikes during periods of market instability. However, according to the latest Shunto negotiations, Japanese wages saw the largest increase in 33 years (5.33%).
Simultaneously, on August 20, the Bank of Japan published two reports on the impact of demographic changes on wage structures and the impact of service inflation on overall CPI.
This appears to signal that the Bank of Japan may continue to raise rates in response to the persistence of service inflation. The market currently expects the Bank of Japan to maintain rates unchanged in September but anticipates another rate hike before the end of the year.
Insights
Eurostat released the July CPI data for the Eurozone on August 20, showing an annual growth rate of 2.6%, slightly up by 0.1% from the previous month and in line with market expectations. The three countries with the lowest annual inflation rates were Finland (0.5%), Latvia (0.8%), and Denmark (1.0%), while the highest rates were observed in Romania (5.8%), Belgium (5.4%), and Hungary (4.1%).
Among the components of the overall CPI, services inflation made the largest contribution, with an annual growth rate of 4.0%, slightly down from 4.1% in the previous month, contributing 1.82 percentage points to the overall CPI increase. This was followed by food, alcohol, and tobacco (0.45 percentage points), non-energy goods (0.19 percentage points), and energy (0.12 percentage points).
According to the European Central Bank’s (ECB) third-quarter professional forecasters’ survey, the CPI growth rate is expected to decline to 2.4% by the end of 2024, with long-term inflation projected to return to the ECB’s 2% target. Additionally, the main refinancing rate is expected to decrease to 3.75% in 2024 (currently 4.25%), with the market anticipating that the ECB will implement a 25 basis point rate cut in both September and December, and further reductions to 3.0% and 2.5% in 2025 and 2026, respectively.
Insights
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released the CPI data on August 14th, showing a year-over-year increase of 2.9% in July, slightly below the data in the previous month and market expectations of 3.0%. The core CPI, which excludes food and energy, rose by 3.2% year-over-year, down from 3.3% in the previous month. Both figures represent the smallest increases since 2021.
Breaking down the details, the primary contributor to the overall increase was inflation in housing services, which saw a monthly gain of 0.4%, up from 0.2% in the previous month, accounting for 90% of the total monthly increase across all items. However, this gain was offset by declines in several areas, including used cars and healthcare.
Similar to the PPI data released yesterday, the CPI data further confirms that inflationary pressures are continuing to ease. If the initial jobless claims over the next few weeks, as well as the unemployment rate and non-farm payroll data to be released on September 6th, remain stable, and if retail sales maintain moderate growth, the Federal Reserve will have more flexibility in its monetary policy decisions. Currently, the market anticipates a 64% probability of a 25 basis point rate cut at the September FOMC meeting, compared to a 36% probability of a 50 basis point cut.