The Day at a Glance | September 17 2021

The Top

*Today, options and futures will expire simultaneously– known as the Quadruple Witching Day; volatility in markets is expected.

*Joe Biden continues to seek the approval of his 3.5 trillion family spending and infrastructure program before Congress.

*The Central Bank of China injects 90 billion yuan in the money market.

*Inflation in the Eurozone during August set at 3.0%, in line with the previous figure. Underlying inflation set at 1.6%.

Economic environment

In Mexico, the INEGI published the Global Indicator of Economic Activity (IOAE for its initials in Spanish), which forecasts a 6.8% rate of growth in the economy during August. The IOAE logged a slowdown with respect to the previous month. Secondary activities increased 4.1% while the tertiary sector grew 8.3%. Sequentially, August logged a 0.2% decrease with respect to the previous month, and July recorded a 1% month over month increase, which points out that there is a slowdown in economic activity so far during the third quarter of the year. The deceleration is probably related to the virus`s outbreak in the country, which has had an impact on the economy, even though it has not forced the government to implement shutdowns among activities and sectors.

Retail sales in the United States surprisingly increased 0.7% during August. Forecasts expected a 0.8% decrease. Clothing and accessories logged double-digit growth along with gasolines. However, food sales only increased 6%. The data is especially good news considering that August was the last month during which the population received any kind of aid from the government, which suggests that growth in the United States is still firm; this is also good news bearing in mind that consumption accounts for two thirds of the economy. Additionally, this data reiterates the expectation of the possible tapering announcement on behalf of the Federal Reserve next week.