US equities edged higher last week as US CPI eased from 3.5% in June to 3.4% in July, in line with expectations. US retail spending, despite an annual increase, fell month-on-month for July by 0.6%. This is in line with a deterioration of the Consumer Sentiment Index for August which fell sharply from 55.2 in July to 51.0 in August.

It was a positive week in the UK as preliminary GDP figures for Q2 showed 0.4% quarterly growth. UK Equities have bounced back to pre-Iran War levels in recent weeks. Reserve Bank of Australia left rates unchanged but emphasised that they will act if needed to control inflation. India’s July CPI rose to 4.45% year-on-year from 4.38% in June, driven mostly by food inflation.