- January 15, 2025
- Posted by: Melanie Scott
- Category: Market News
US stock futures surged by over 1%, and the USD dropped 0.45% against a basket of currencies following slightly weaker-than-expected inflation data. The price of goods and services rose 0.4% in December, in line with expectations. But core prices, excluding food and energy, increased by 0.2% month-over-month, below the forecasted 0.3%. Business activity in New York also showed weakness, with the Empire State Manufacturing Index falling to -12.6, well below the anticipated 2.7.
In Canada, manufacturing sales rose 0.8%, surpassing the forecasted 0.4%, while wholesale sales declined by 0.2%, though this was still better than the expected 0.6% drop.
UK inflation unexpectedly eased last month, with the annual rate falling to 2.5% from 2.6% in November, marking the lowest level for services inflation since March 2022. Soft inflation data is prompting investors to price in a higher number of BoE rate cuts for this year.