The rise in consumer prices in the US slowed down in July, but this slowdown has not completely eliminated the pressure brought about by rising costs while rising prices have undermined consumer confidence and promoted policy debates. According to data released by the Labor Department on Wednesday, the US CPI rose 0.5% month-on-month in July and 5.4% year-on-year. The core CPI, excluding food and energy costs, rose 0.3% month-on-month and 4.3% year-on-year. With supply constraints and a surge in demand, companies with rising cost pressures are increasing the prices of goods and services. The lingering challenges, including raw material shortages, transportation bottlenecks and recruitment difficulties, may continue to pose broader upward price pressures in the future.

Raphael Bostic, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, said that the Fed’s commitment to maximizing employment means that it will not raise interest rates too quickly, and the recent rise in inflation seems to be only temporary. In a written speech, Bostic stated that “the committee will not preemptively raise interest rates because of concerns about inflation in response to the ‘hot’ labor market”.

Forty-six U.S. Republican senators issued a severe warning to Democrats, declaring that they would not vote for raising the debt ceiling, which could lead to a debt default by the U.S. Treasury Department as early as next month.  "We will not vote for an increase in the debt ceiling, whether it is through a separate bill, a continuous solution, or any other means," these senators said in a letter dated August 10. "The Democratic Party has the power to unilaterally raise the debt ceiling through a reconciliation mechanism at any time, and they should not be allowed to pretend that there are other ways."

U.S. President Biden called on OPEC countries to reverse their production cuts during the epidemic, stating that such a move is critical to keeping U.S. gasoline prices at an affordable level. The Biden administration has adopted a series of measures to curb the rise in oil prices, and the White House regards inflation as a potential threat to the US economic recovery. Biden said in a speech at the White House, “I hope to remove all the factors that hinder the decline of oil prices, so that consumers can buy gasoline at a lower price.” Biden did not comment specifically on how quickly OPEC+ should reverse its production cuts.

The Sankei Shimbun did not quote sources reporting that the Japanese government is considering expanding the scope of the state of emergency and may extend the existing state of emergency that was originally scheduled to expire at the end of this month to the end of September. The government plans to make relevant decisions as early as next week.

MSCI announced the results of its August quarterly index evaluation. The MSCI ACWI Index will include 20 securities and exclude 7 securities. According to the company's total market capitalization, the three largest new securities in the MSCI global index are DoorDash A, AMC Entertainment Holdings A and SITC International. Based on the company's total market capitalization, the three largest new securities in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index are Jinshan Office, Amic and Wantai Bio.

Data released by the People's Bank of China on Wednesday showed that the scale of China's foreign currency deposits and loans both fell from the previous month at the end of July. The balance of foreign currency deposits was US$996 billion, a decrease of US$23 billion from the previous month, the largest drop since July 2015. Foreign currency deposits ended the previous three consecutive months of rising, and fell below US$1 trillion for the first time since the end of March. At the end of July, the balance of foreign currency loans was US$944.4 billion, a decrease of US$2.9 billion from the previous month.

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