Higher energy costs pushed wholesale prices higher in June which led to the biggest annual increase in prices in 6 1/2 years. The Producer Price Index (PPI) rose 3.4% annually in June while month over month saw an increase of 0.3%. The so-called Core PPI, which strips out volatile food and energy, rose 0.3% from May, year-over-year +2.7%. The Producer Price Index is a family of indexes that measures the average change over time in the selling prices received by domestic producers of goods and services.
U.S. Stocks are lower though off their worst levels after the White House levied additional tariffs on $200B in Chinese exports coming into the U.S. last night. This sell off comes after a nice multi-day rally. Stocks have pushed higher lately and have easily shrugged off tariff headlines due in part to a strengthening economy, strong consumer confidence, relatively low inflation and a sense of strong quarterly earnings this week.
After rising since the beginning of 2018 until mid-May, mortgage rates have now edged lower in recent weeks. The Mortgage Bankers Association reports that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell three basis points in the latest week to 4.76% with an average 0.43 in points while the jumbo 30-year rate also fell three basis points to 4.68%. Within the report it also stated that the purchase index climbed 6.5% while the refinance index fell 3.8%.
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