Highlights
Yesterday’s Producer Price Index (PPI=inflation at the wholesale level) for April was up 0.5%. The market expected +0.3%. In March, the PPI was down 0.1%. The Fed has managed to create a weakening economy with high inflation.
Today we get the inflation rate at the retail level with the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Market is looking for a 0.4% increase in CPI in April with the year inflation rate at 3.4%.
Yesterday, President Biden announced a bundle of steep tariff increases on an array of Chinese imports including electric vehicles to 102.5% tariff and 25 to 50% tariff on computer chips, medical products, photovoltaic cells for solar panels, ship-to-shore cranes, personal protective equipment, etc. Overall, the added tariffs impact $18 billion in Chinese products.
It was a surprise that the tariff package did not include imports of Chinese used cooking oil and that pressured soybeans yesterday.