Business

For the first time since August 10th, WTI crude is trading back above $50 (following the biggest crude inventory build in 6 months and a rebound in production last week).

The gains seem driven by refinery restarts and increased IEA/OPEC demand forecasts, and improved OPEC production cut compliance. This move also follows China's lowest crude output since 2009 (amid dismal economic data).

The good news (for now) is that RBOB prices are continuing to slide as refiners and pipelines come back on line after Harvey.

After disappointing (for The Fed's inflationistas) producer prices growth yesterday, consumer prices jumped 0.4% MoM in August - the biggest spike since January. Gains were driven by soaring energy costs (offset by a big decline in vehicle prices).

Year over Year, CPI remains below The Fed's mandat at +1.9% but that is hotter than expected and the highest since April..

As the breakdown shows, the gains were largely driven by rising energy and shelter costs (and note that vehicle prices are tumbling)

As expected, the BOE kept its interest rate unchanged at 0.25%, in a 7-2 vote, while maintaining the rest of its bond monetization programs in line in a 9-0 vote.

MPC holds #BankRate at 0.25%, maintains government bond purchases at £435bn and corporate bond purchases at £10bn. pic.twitter.com/D1w1kcvgrz

— Bank of England (@bankofengland) September 14, 2017

Submitted by Rajan Dhall of FX Daily

Going into the MPC announcement later on the this morning, no one is expecting any change in policy, nor should they - now or indeed any time soon.  We would expect this view to be shared by the broader spectrum of investors, but as we know, the reaction today hinges on whether we get any additions to the hawks that are Messrs McCafferty and Saunders, and this would be enough to send Cable on another rally higher, where would likely see the upper end of what we believe is the current range of 1.2500 to 1.3500. 

Global stocks backed off from all time highs, and S&P futures are unchanged ahead of the much anticipated US CPI report, which is expected to break a streak of five consecutive misses, while eyeing disappointing overnight Chinese economic data which missed across the board. European stocks and Asian markets were also modestly in the red, with the relentless global rally to new daily record highs taking a breather amid some concerns China's economy is rolling over, which weighed on commodities including base metals, which in turned dragged down mining stocks.