GLOBAL MARKETS – European stocks end August at record high

The pan-European Stoxx 600 notched an intraday record high of 526.66 points during the session, according to LSEG data, before paring gains slightly. The index nonetheless closed above 525 points for the first time, having shaken off the sharp sell-off at the start of August to end the month around 1.3 percent higher.

U.S. stocks were also higher Friday after several days of choppy trading action on Wall Street this week, with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average heading for a fourth straight winning month. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite has lagged and traded flat amid what analysts have identified as a sectoral rotation into small caps over the summer.

Eurozone inflation fell to a three-year low of 2.2 percent in August, according to flash figures released by the statistics agency Eurostat on Friday. The reading was in line with expectations and below July’s 2.6 percent print.

Elsewhere, France’s preliminary, EU-harmonized consumer price index came in at 2.2 percent for August on an annual basis, down from the 2.7 percent print of July, the country’s statistics office said Friday. Preliminary data from Italy’s statistics agency showed the harmonized CPI came in at 1.3 percent on an annual basis in August, less than in the previous month.

That comes after German and Spanish CPI reports released Thursday showed that inflationary pressures in the two countries are easing.

Stateside, data showed that the Federal Reserve’s favored inflation measure, the personal consumption expenditures price index increased 0.2 percent in July on a monthly basis, which was in line with expectations. The data could inform the central bank’s monetary policy, with many investors hoping that the Fed will start cutting interest rates when it next meets in September.
 

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