Today the economic calendar is rich in interesting events and releases, with the most important keyword being inflation.
First off, from Australia we had the Westpac consumer confidence index for November, which at 105.3 was higher than expected. In addition, Australia also released its building permits numbers for September, which met the forecast of -4.3%.
China was the first major economy today to publish inflation rate data for October. Year-on-year, the main inflation rate climbed to 1.5%, slightly higher than the forecast of 1.4%. Monthly inflation was 0.7% as expected. The PPI also exceeded investors’ expectations at 13.5%.
Furthermore, China also pleased investors with a better-than-anticipated yuan loans report for October.
Note that the plenum of the Chinese Communist Party continues today.
In Europe, Germany delivered very precise inflation rate reports that met the forecasts of 0.5% MoM and 4.5% YoY exactly.
Also in the eurozone, Italy delivered surprisingly positive reports on industrial production today.
Later today we expect the United States to join the fray and publish its own inflation and core inflation rate reports for October. The inflation rate is forecasted to have grown to 5.8%. Results within or below this level could weaken the dollar further.
In addition, the US will also deliver its weekly jobless claims data today, a day earlier than usual, because tomorrow is Veterans’ Day in the United States and the market will be closed.