US Inflation Comes in Higher Than Expected

MARKET MOVERS

• US inflation comes in higher than expected as costs surge. The U.S. annual inflation rate came in at 8.3 percent in August, higher than the market forecast of 8.1 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). This is slightly down from the 8.5 percent reading in July. Food and shelter costs contributed to the inflation numbers as they increased 11.4 percent and 6.2 percent, respectively, year-over-year.

• U.S. banks lost a record $370 billion in deposits last quarter. Deposits fell to $19.563 trillion as of June 30, down from $19.932 trillion in March, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Some analysts expect the decline in customer deposits to spur banks to hold fewer reserves at the Fed. How fast that happens will carry implications for the Fed, including when it stops tightening and the ultimate size of its balance sheet. Read more here.

• AppLovin abandons the effort to acquire Unity after the $20 billion bid was rejected. With AppLovin’s proposal, Unity would have had to abandon the IronSource deal. It also would have made Unity CEO John Riccitiello the CEO of the combined company. “Following careful consideration, AppLovin concluded that its path as the independent market leader is better for its stockholders and other stakeholders,” the company said.

• DraftKings will be the exclusive odds provider for Amazon NFL game. The sports-betting company said Tuesday that it signed a multiyear agreement with Amazon that also includes same-game parlays that will be available on the DraftKings Sportsbook app. Content from DraftKings will be featured in all 15 of Amazon’s National Football League telecasts this season, beginning Sept. 15. Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

• Peloton founders are leaving the fitness company in the latest shake-up. Peloton announced Monday that co-founder John Foley is resigning as executive chairman. Chief Legal Officer Hisao Kushi, another co-founder, is also departing. Former RH president and CFO Karen Boone will take over as board chair. The changes come as CEO Barry McCarthy orchestrates a massive transformation plan for the fitness company. Read more here.
  

WHAT TO WATCH

• Twitter shareholders vote to approve Elon Musk’s bid to buy the company. A majority of Twitter shareholders voted in favor of accepting Musk’s $54.20-a-share offer to acquire the social-networking company, according to a preliminary vote count read on Tuesday. The shareholder approval paves the way for a trial next month to determine the disputed deal’s fate.

• OPEC reiterates its warning about the disconnected oil market. The oil market is in a “state of schizophrenia” and increasingly disconnected from signs of robust crude demand, OPEC said Tuesday, reiterating earlier hints that it would act to support prices that have continued to tumble despite cuts to the cartel’s output. The remarks are the latest signal that the group is prepared to backstop the oil market and prevent prices from falling much further. Read more here.

• House hunters are poised to buy as the market corrects itself. According to the survey by Realtor.com, which looked at visitors accessing listings as well as search results, nearly 46% of would-be house buyers polled said they’re planning to go ahead and purchase a home in the next six months, even though recession fears are weighing on prospective buyers.

• Investors overwhelmingly believe the S&P 500 bottom for this drawdown is not in yet, survey shows. Less than one out of 10 investors expect that the S&P 500 already bottomed in June, a survey by the investment bank’s Jim Reid showed. More than half of survey respondents, 58%, expect the bottom will come next year or beyond. Traders are anticipating that the broader market index will once again retest June’s lows ahead of next week’s Fed meeting. Read more here.

• Is a post-dollar world coming? Ruchir Sharma thinks we may be close to a peak because it is so hard for America to further expand its financial and even economic footprint from this standpoint. And a lot of countries are beginning to sign bilateral agreements where they’re able to trade and exchange currencies which are in their own sort of currencies rather than being able to transact everything to the US dollar. Source(2:43)