(The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a

columnist for Reuters.)

By Mike Dolan

LONDON, Aug 13 (Reuters) - What matters in U.S. and

global markets today

By Mike Dolan, Editor-At-Large, Finance and Markets

U.S. July inflation data didn't sound the all clear on tariffs

but also didn't send an unequivocal signal about the longer-term

impacts either - and that seemed to be enough to goose Fed

easing expectations, spur Wall St stocks to new records and sink

volatility gauges.

Futures markets are now fully convinced another quarter

point rate cut is coming next month and they're almost halfway

priced to three cuts by the end of the year. The S&P 500 and

Nasdaq raced more than 1% higher on Tuesday, the VIX "fear

index" sank to the lowest of the year and futures are up again

ahead of today's bell.

* Bond market volatility cratered to its lowest in more than

3-1/2 years, even as "core" inflation rose back above 3% for the

first time in five months, as Treasury yields fell across the

curve and the dollar index ebbed to its weakest in more than a

fortnight. President Trump again lambasted Fed chair Jerome

Powell for not cutting rates more quickly and threatened a

"major lawsuit" against him, while also hitting out at Goldman

Sachs boss David Solomon and its chief U.S. economist Jan

Hatzius for the bank's research on tariffs and forecasts.

* Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent talked about the Fed possibly

cutting rates 50 basis points next month "to make up for the

delay" and was hopeful the latest Trump appointee to the Fed

board, White House advisor Stephen Miran, could be confirmed by

the Fed's September meeting. Meantime, the White House said the

plan was to continue publishing monthly employment statistics

even though Trump's pick to head the embattled Bureau of Labor

Statistics, E.J. Antoni, said this month that the BLS should

suspend monthly payrolls releases until data problems were fixed

- and rely instead on quarterly reports.

* Once again, tech stocks led the charge higher on Wall Street

on Tuesday. Alphabet shares rose 1.2% as Perplexity made a $34.5

billion cash offer to buy the company's Chrome browser and Intel

climbed 5% after Trump met CEO Lip-Bu Tan and praised him, after

claiming only last week that Tan was compromised due to Chinese

links. European and Asia shares were higher, with Japan's Nikkei

hitting a record high, and eyes are now shifting to the

U.S.-Russia summit in Alaska on Friday for clues about a

possible Ukraine ceasefire.

Make sure to check out today's column, where I consider whether

the now government-blessed "stablecoin" explosion will juice or

destabilise the economy.

Today's Market Minute

* U.S. authorities have secretly placed location tracking

devices in targeted shipments of advanced chips they see as

being at high risk of illegal diversion to China, according to

two people with direct knowledge.

* Perplexity AI made a $34.5 billion unsolicited all-cash offer

for Alphabet's Chrome browser on Tuesday, a bid far above its

own valuation as the startup reaches for the browser's billions

of users pivotal to the AI search race.

* Investors have faced several counterintuitive swings this

year, including the dollar's plunge and record highs in bitcoin

and U.S. stocks. Now, writes ROI columnist Jamie McGeever, we

can add another to that list: the stellar outperformance of

Latin American currencies against the dollar.

* Overcapacity has made its way into China's domestic market,

with price wars leading to collapsing profitability and

accelerating deflation. The government has responded by

launching a so-called "anti-involution" program. It's had some

early wins, but this could be a lengthy battle, claims Emmer

Capital Partners Ltd founder Manishi Raychaudhuri.

* The pace of new capacity of U.S. solar, wind and battery

systems has slowed nationally and in key states this year,

weighing on sentiment surrounding clean energy. But, writes ROI

columnist Gavin Maguire, climate trackers can take heart from

the continued growth outside Texas and California.

Chart of the day

Wall Street "fear gauges" are plunging, with the VIX index

measuring one-month implied volatility in the S&P500 plumbing

its lowest levels of the year and the equivalent Treasury market

MOVE index at its lowest since January 2022.

Today's events to watch

* Richmond Federal Reserve President Thomas Barkin and

Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic and Chicago Fed President

Austan Goolsbee both speak

* U.S. corporate earnings: Cisco Systems

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Opinions expressed are those of the author. They do not reflect

the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is

committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

(By Mike Dolan

Editing by Frances Kerry)