US inflation – producer prices – and unemployment data have just been released, which will provide more clues about the Fed’s next monetary policy actions.
Unemployment data indicates a significant slowdown in the labor market after jobless claims rose. Meanwhile, the producer price index followed the lead of the consumer price index, which missed expectations and rose less than expected.
The data is now published
The producer price index rose 0.2% on a monthly basis in April, while experts had expected a 0.3% rise, while it registered a 0.5% drop in March, but the reading was revised down to only 0.4%. .
On a year-on-year basis, the index posted a 2.3% increase from April, while expectations were for a 2.4% rise and 2.7% in March.
The producer price index (excluding food and energy) rose by an expected 0.2% month-on-month in March. On a year-over-year basis, it increased by 3.2%, and expectations indicated a 3.3% increase.
Jobless claims came in at 264K, beating the consensus forecast of 220.35K. Especially last week it recorded 239.25 thousand.
Thus, the average number of jobless claims rose to 245.25 thousand in 4 weeks from 239.25 thousand in the previous week.
Now the markets
Spot gold rose 0.3% to $2,036 an ounce.
U.S. gold futures rose 0.25% to $2,043.
On the other hand, the dollar index gained 0.22% to register 101.50 points.
Brent crude is now down 0.5% at $76 a barrel.
Texas crude was down 0.6% at $72.1 a barrel.
“Award-winning beer geek. Extreme coffeeaholic. Introvert. Avid travel specialist. Hipster-friendly communicator.”
