Market Brief, North America

Markets are doubling down on “soft landing” bets this morning after US consumer inflation slowed as expected, reducing the need for further monetary tightening from the Federal Reserve. Equity futures are up, Treasury yields are down slightly on the front end of the curve, and the dollar is slipping ahead of the North American open. North America Headline consumer prices rose 3.2 percent in July from the same period last year according to data published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics this morning, up 0.2 percent on a month-over-month basis. This was slightly below the the 3.3 percent and 0.2...

The euro is weakening against the dollar after the European Central Bank executed an (arguably) dovish rate hike and updated numbers showed the US economy growing more quickly than expected in the second quarter. High-beta currencies like the Australian and Canadian dollars and the Mexican peso are up, while other risk proxies – like the VIX equity “fear index” and the Merrill Lynch Option Volatility Estimate (MOVE) bond market measure – are trending down as markets buy into a “Goldilocks” scenario for the economy, with growth remaining relatively robust even as inflation pressures subside.   North America The US economy expanded...