The Federal Reserve's favorite measure of inflation likely stayed higher than the central bank's target in July, according to forecasters.

A widely watched Bureau of Economic Analysis report on inflation and consumer spending is likely to show consumer prices rose 2.6% over the last 12 months in July, according to a survey of economists by Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.1 If forecasters are correct, inflation as measured by the Personal Consumption Expenditures index grew at the same rate as in June.

"Core" inflation, which excludes volatile prices for food and energy, is expected to have risen 2.9%, up from 2.8% in June. An uptick in that measure would be especially notable:. Officials at the Fed use PCE core inflation to judge whether inflation is running at the central bank's target of a 2% annual rate. It hasn't been under the central bank's goal for more than four years, and it is once again headed in the wrong direction as tariffs push up prices on store shelves. (Investopedia – Continue Reading)

The UK, France and Germany are expected to announce on Thursday that they will reimpose sweeping sanctions on Iran for failing to readmit UN inspectors into all of its nuclear sites.

The decision, under consideration for months, is likely to provoke the worst crisis in Iran’s relations with the west since Israel’s attacks on the country’s nuclear sites in June. Iran is already preparing countermeasures.

The planned reimposition of the sanctions, contained in six suspended UN resolutions, will start on 18 October when the original nuclear deal signed in 2015 expires. (Guardian – Continue Reading)

Japan’s top trade negotiator Ryosei Akazawa cancelled a trip to the United States on Thursday over issues related to the U.S.-Japan trade deal.

In a statement, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said that his trip would have involved the discussion of U.S. tariff measures.

“However, during the coordination with the US, because it became apparent that certain points required further technical discussion, the trip was cancelled, and it was decided that discussions will continue at the administrative level,” Hayashi told reporters. (CNBC – Continue Reading)