Demand for a major Federal Reserve facility dropped to the lowest level in more than four years as investors and banks put money back to work as part of portfolio rebalancing after the end of the month.

Seventeen participants on Tuesday put a combined $21.07 billion at the Fed’s overnight reverse repurchase agreement facility, known as the RRP, which is used by banks, government-sponsored enterprises and money-market mutual funds to earn interest on cash lent to the central bank. (Bloomberg - Continue Reading)

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Tuesday said Ukraine's allies will continue discussions on possible security guarantees for Kyiv during their videoconference meeting this week.

Speaking at a joint news conference with Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter in Berlin, Merz said the leaders of the so-called “coalition of the willing" will analyze the situation, as diplomatic efforts to arrange a meeting between Ukrainian and Russian leaders have stalled.

"The issue of security guarantees will also play a role in this meeting," he said, referring to the virtual meeting scheduled for Thursday. "The most important security guarantee we can provide at the moment is sufficient support for the Ukrainian army in its efforts to defend this country. We want to continue this," Merz stressed. (AA – Continue Reading)

Consumer price growth in the euro area last month edged higher to slightly exceed the target of the European Central Bank, but the increase was likely was not enough to prod monetary policymakers into another rate cut next week.

In a preliminary report, the EU statistics office Eurostat said annual Eurozone inflation in August climbed to 2.1%, up from July’s mark of 2.0%, which is also the ECB’s medium-term target.

The less-volatile euro area core rate held at 2.3% y/y, with the market expecting a decline to 2.2%.

Measured at a monthly rate, consumer price growth in August rose to 0.2% compared to the flat reading in July and the expected increase to 0.1%. (LiveSquawk – Continue Reading)