The Day at a Glance | October 24 2023

*General inflation in Mexico decreased for the tenth consecutive biweekly period. 

*The Eurozone´s PMI´s logged a sharper economic slowdown in October with readings of 43.0 in the manufacturing index (43.4 prev.) and 47.8 points in the services sector (48.7 prev.). 

*China is set to implement new fiscal stimuli to bolster its economic recovery. 

*China dismissed its Defense Minister on Tuesday, the second dismissal of a top leader in three months. 

*The US military intensified surveillance in the Middle East as threats to its troops increase. 

*On Tuesday, Republicans will once again attempt to fill the leadership void in the US House of Representatives that has paralyzed Congress for three weeks.

Economic environment

General inflation in Mexico decreased to 4.27% in the first half of October, marking ten consecutive biweekly periods of declining figures. This reading was lower than the consensus´ 4.34% forecast. On a biweekly basis, a 0.24% figure was logged. The underlying component recorded a quarterly 0.24% increase, a slowdown compared to the previous biweekly period (0.27% prev.). By components, goods and services recorded 0.22% and 0.27% increases, respectively. On an annual basis, underlying inflation rate set at 5.54%. On the other hand, the non-underlying price index recorded a 0.25% q/q increase. Notably, there was a -1.72% q/q setback in the agricultural and livestock products category, while energy and government tariffs increased by 2.03%. As a result, the annual reading for the non-underlying component remained particularly low at 0.48%, thanks to the negative -2.83% y/y reading in energy, which mitigated the rise in fruits and vegetables (5.01% y/y).