Russia Stocks End Flat as Energy Shares Support MOEX Index 
EU Approves €90 Billion Ukraine Aid as Frozen Russian Asset Plan Stalls 
Gold Prices Fall Amid Rate Jitters; Copper Steady as China Stimulus Eyed 
Oil Prices Climb on Venezuela Blockade, Russia Sanctions Fears, and Supply Risks 
Yen Near Lows as Markets Await Bank of Japan Rate Decision, Euro Slips After ECB Signals Caution 
Japan Signals Possible Yen Intervention as Currency Weakens Despite BOJ Rate Hike 
China Keeps Benchmark Lending Rates Steady as Economic Outlook Remains Cautious 
Global Demand for Yuan Loans and Bonds Surges as China Pushes Currency Internationalization 
The United States consumer inflation for December is expected to be released on Wednesday at 13:30 GMT. Markets expect a 0.2 percent rise in the December CPI, coming back above the Fed’s target. Core (ex-food & energy) CPI inflation, of course, has been above the Fed’s target for more than a year.
The 75 percent drop in oil prices between mid-2014 and January-2016 pushed headline inflation below zero at one point and even as recently as July of last year it was still running at a lowly 0.9 percent.
Because once oil prices stabilised, headline inflation would come roaring back to meet the core. That’s now happening. West Texas crude prices ran sideways from April to November 2016 at $43/bbl and since then they’ve risen by another $9/bbl to $52-and-change, reported DBS Group Research.
From that lowly 0.9 percent y/y in July 2016, it rose 1.1 percent in August, 1.5 percent in September and 1.7 percent in November. Markets expect it will hit 2.1 percent today, a 4-tick jump in a single month. And all it took was for oil prices to stop falling, they added.
