Economic calendar: US inflation on top of the agenda

• Trade officials from China and European Union arrive at Washington

• Headline US CPI expected to accelerate further in December

Watch China-US and EU-US trade headlines today!

Economic calendar on Tuesday is light with just one noteworthy print (US CPI) scheduled for release. However, one should focus on trade-related news flow as Chinese Vice Premier Liu He is already in Washington and EU trade commissioner Phil Hogan will arrive there today. The former is expected to sign ‘Phase One’ trade deal tomorrow while the latter will hold talks on EU-US trade issues.

Data releases to watch today

1:30 pm GMT - US, CPI inflation for December. The US headline CPI gauge jumped from 1.8% to 2.1% YoY in November while core gauge held unchanged at 2.3% YoY. Core CPI is expected to hold steady for another month (2.3% YoY) but headline measure should accelerate to 2.3% YoY in December. Should inflation continue to accelerate, Fed could reconsider impact its money market actions have.

9:40 pm GMT - API report on oil stockpiles. Last week’s DOE report showed an unexpected build of 1.16 million barrels. However, the reading barely changed anything as crude prices were already under pressure due to Middle East de-escalation. Today’s API report is expected to show a 0.75 mb decline.

Central bankers’ speeches

• 8:30 am GMT - ECB’s Yves

• 2:00 pm GMT - Fed’s Williams

• 5:30 pm GMT - ECB’s Villeroy

• 6:00 pm GMT - Fed’s George