Good day. Ahead of their September meeting, Fed officials are debating how exactly to implement their new framework governing how they will conduct policy over the long run. Elsewhere, the Bank of Canada kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged, saying it expects a faster third-quarter recovery than it had previously anticipated. On the agenda today we have a policy statement from the European Central Bank. 

 Now on to today’s news and analysis.

Fed officials are likely at coming meetings to provide more specific guidance about what conditions would justify continued low interest rates, according to public speeches and interviews. They could also clarify that their purchases of Treasury and mortgage-backed securities, initiated in March with the stated goal of repairing market functioning, are being maintained now to support a faster recovery. But officials’ remarks heading into their Sept. 15-16 meeting suggested they haven’t agreed on how far to go in refining any new guidance on their policy plans and whether to wait before more fully reconfiguring policy statements to reflect the new framework.

While the Trump administration has torn up regulations and U.S. international agreements aimed at limiting climate change-related damage, U.S. financial regulators are slowly moving in the opposite direction. On Wednesday, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission released a first of its kind report calling for action to change the financial system so it promotes investment that doesn’t harm the environment. Read More. 

• Unemployment Claims Expected to Show Continued Slow Decline

Norway's Ministry of Finance said Wednesday that it expects the country's banks to continue refraining from distributing profits until the uncertainty created by the Covid-19 pandemic subsides further, noting that although many businesses in the country have now restarted their operations there is still a risk that a recovery will turn out to be weaker than expected. (Dow Jones Newswires)

7:45 a.m.: European Central Bank releases policy statement
8:30 a.m.: U.S. Labor Department releases August PPI
8:30 a.m.: European Central Bank’s Lagarde holds press conference
12:30 p.m.: Bank of Canada's Macklem speaks online
1 p.m.: European Central Bank's Lagarde speaks at online conference on banking and payments in the digital world

4:30 a.m.: Bank of England releases August TNS inflation attitudes survey
4:50 a.m.: European Central Bank's Schnabel speaks on panel at Eurofi Financial Forum in Berlin
5:45 a.m.: European Central Bank's Mersch gives speech at Eurofi Financial Forum in Berlin
8 a.m.: European Central Bank's Lane speaks in online panel discussion at workshop organized by the Dublin Chamber of Commerce
8:30 a.m.: U.S. Labor Department releases August CPI
8:30 a.m.: European Central Bank's Schnabel gives speech at webinar organized by Centre for European Reform

TD Securities sees a case for higher inflation, but still thinks price pressures are unlikely to surge in a damaging way. Higher inflation could come from supply chain disruptions, strong money supply growth fueled by central bank stimulus, the Federal Reserve's move to tolerate inflation over its 2% target, higher commodity prices and a possible rise in expected inflation. TD Securities, however, in a note to its clients says that "our base case sees the deteriorated labor market as a key driver of inflation dynamics: we look for inflation across many key economies to remain firmly entrenched below 2% by the end of next year. But the journey there will be a volatile one, with base effects from weak energy prices in 2020 yielding strong inflation in mid-2021."

—Michael S. Derby

• Traders are betting on fresh upheaval in the oil market, in an abrupt turnaround from the calm of recent months.
• U.S. container imports surged 19.3% from June in July as the economy reopened and retailers stocked up for the year-end holiday season, according to data from Global Port Tracker released by the National Retail Federation. A forecast points to a 6% annual rise to a record 2.06 million containers in August. (Dow Jones Newswires)
• Canadian housing starts rose in August for a third consecutive month and at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 262,396 units, up 6.9% from a slightly revised 245,425 units in July, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said. (DJN)
• The jobless rate in the OECD area fell to 7.7% in July from 8% in June, leaving it 2.5 percentage points above its level in February, the month before the Covid-19 pandemic hit the labor market, the Paris-based research body said. (DJN)
• Mexico’s consumer price index rose 0.39% in August, moving the 12-month inflation rate up to 4.05% from 3.62% in July, according to the National Statistics Institute. (DJN)
• Brazil's consumer prices accelerated in August from a year earlier by 2.44%, and by 0.24% from July, as the cost of transportation increased amid rising demand after states and towns eased more quarantine restrictions, the Brazilian Institute of Geography said Wednesday. (DJN)

This newsletter is compiled by James Christie in San Francisco and Ed Ballard in London. 

Send us your tips, suggestions and feedback. Write to:

Jon Hilsenrath, Michael Derby, Nell Henderson, Nick Timiraos, Jason Douglas, Paul Hannon, Harriet Torry, Kate Davidson, David Harrison, Kim Mackrael, Tom Fairless, Megumi Fujikawa, Michael Maloney, Paul Kiernan, James Glynn

Follow us on Twitter:

@WSJCentralBanks, @NHendersonWSJ, @michaelsderby, @NickTimiraos, @PaulHannon29, @wsj_douglasj, @HarrietTorry, @KateDavidson, @d_harrison, @kimmackrael, @TomFairless, @megumifujikawa, @mikemaloneyny, @pkwsj, @JamesGlynnWSJ