Highlights of key economic statistics from last week compiled by Putnam Investments.
- The CPI remained unchanged at 1.3% and core CPI rose 0.3% in July compared with June, the Bureau of Labor Statistics found.
- The Producer Price Index for final demand fell 0.5% in July, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported.
- Import prices fell 1.4% and export prices dropped 3.3% in June, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
- Initial jobless claims rose by 14,000 to 262,000 in the week ended August 6, 2022, the Department of Labor found.
- As of August 4, 2022, of the 408 S&P 500 Index companies reporting second-quarter earnings, 305 beat analysts’ expectations, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices.
- The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index edged up in July but remained below its historical average.
- Eurostat reported euro area industrial production increased 0.7% in June compared with May.
- Germany’s Federal Statistical Office noted the inflation rate rose 7.5% year over year in July.
- The United Kingdom’s Office for National Statistics reported GDP is estimated to have fallen 0.1% in the second quarter.
- The yield on the 10-year Treasury note traded in a range.
- Rising energy prices, worsened by the Russia-Ukraine War, increase the risk of stagflation and recession, even as central banks seek monetary policy normalization.
- Declining liquidity and deteriorating financial conditions, combined with high valuations, are contributing to a substantial uptick in risk asset volatility.
- Global leverage is at worrisome levels and will eventually need to be paid for, at a time when most developed markets are facing a fiscal drag from the end of post-pandemic stimulus.
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