US inflation increased by less than expected in July; adds support for 25 bps cut By

-- U.S. consumer prices increased by less than expected on Currency Trading Platforman annualized basis in July, increasing the likelihood that the Federal Reserve will start cutting interest rates at its next meeting in September.

The Labor Department's (CPI) rose by 2.9% last month, decelerating slightly from 3.0% in June. Economists had predicted that the figure would match June's rate.

Month-on-month, the climbed to 0.2% after actually falling 0.1% last month, matching expectations.

"The details of the CPI report were a little disappointing, however, with rent increasing by a bigger 0.5% m/m and OER up 0.4%," analysts at Capital Economic said, in a note. "After the more modest gains in June and the sharp slowdown in the all tenant rent index measure of housing inflation, we had expected the weaker June gains to become the new norm."

Stripping out more volatile items like food and fuel, the "core" climbed by 3.2% in the twelve months to July, below projections of 3.3%. On a basis, underlying price growth inched up to 0.2%, after rising 0.1% in June.

"The 0.15% m/m increase in all-items CPI and the 0.18% m/m increase in core CPI in July suggest that the disinflationary trend has firmly reasserted itself, after the temporary relapse in the first quarter," said Capital Economics.

"Overall, July’s CPI report is probably best described as mildly encouraging – it adds support for a 25bp rate cut in September but, at the same time, doesn’t suggest price pressures are collapsing in a way that could warrant a bigger 50bp reduction.” 

This release followed Tuesday’s cooler-than-expected July , and confirms the generally benign inflationary pressures, which could allow the U.S. central bank to cut its policy rate from the 5.25%-5.50% range it has been in for more than a year.

The benchmark stock indices on Wall Street have traded in a mixed fashion Wednesday, after the previous session's sharp gains, with the blue chip around 0.2% higher, while the broad-based and the tech-heavy traded marginally lower. 

"Feels like today’s print was pre-traded with yesterday’s PPI," said analysts at JPMorgan, in a note, "and with the disinflation story intact, tomorrow’s retail sales [number] is necessary to assuage (or confirm) growth concerns." 

The  report at the start of the month showed that U.S. jobs growth slowed more than expected in July, heightening fears that the labor market is deteriorating and potentially making the economy vulnerable to a recession.

 

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