The U.S. dollar eased back strongly on Wednesday. The United States was seen making attempts to hold trade talks with China. On the economic front, data from the Labor Department showed that producer prices fell 0.1% in August unexpectedly. This was the first monthly decline since February 2017. Economists polled expected to see PPI rise 0.2% on the month.
Oil prices surged on a report from OPEC about rising demand and tighter supplies. Weekly inventory report from the EIA showed U.S. crude oil stockpiles fell 5.3 million barrels last week.
Australia’s employment data released earlier today showed that the unemployment rate was steady at 5.3%. The economy added 44k jobs during August, beating estimates of a 16.5k increase.
The day ahead is expected to be busy with the BoE and the ECB meetings lined up. The Bank of England is expected to keep interest rates unchanged. The recent uptick in wage growth and monthly GDP could bring some cheer to policy-makers.
Later in the day, the European Central Bank will be holding its monetary policy meeting. No changes are expected and investors remain clued into the central bank’s forward guidance on interest rates.
The U.S. consumer price index data will be coming out later today. Headline CPI is expected to rise 0.3% accelerating from 0.2% increase previously. Core CPI is expected to rise at a steady pace of 0.2%.
