US and China Release July Inflation Data

The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics is scheduled to release the July Consumer Price Index report on Wednesday. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg project a marginal monthly increase of 0.1%, following a 0.4% decline in June. The core CPI, which excludes food and energy, is estimated to have risen 0.2% monthly and 2.5% annually, the smallest annual increase since February. This moderation follows a cooling of energy-related price pressures that spiked after the start of the U.S. war with Iran in late February.

These projections arrive as the Federal Reserve System faces internal divisions, with three officials recently dissenting in favor of raising interest rates on July 29. Despite inflation signs tempering, retail sales growth is projected to remain steady in July.

Simultaneously, China's National Bureau of Statistics reported that its consumer price index rose 0.5 percent year-on-year in July. The core CPI in China saw a higher increase of 0.9 percent year-on-year, while the monthly CPI edged down 0.1 percent due to international imported factors. China's producer price index, tracking factory-gate costs, increased 3.5 percent year-on-year in July.