US stocks ended the week higher as investors hope a recent deceleration in inflation will slow the pace of the Federal Reserve’s Fed Funds rate increases. The S&P 500 gained 3.3% and the Dow was up by 2.9% for the week. Foreign markets were also higher with the FTSE All World Ex US up 2.2% for the week. US crude ended the week at $92.09 per barrel, up from $89.01 the week prior. The yield on the 10-year Treasury was relatively flat ending the week at 2.85% up from 2.84% the week prior.
The consumer price index rose 8.5% in July from a year ago, down from 9.1% in June and below the 8.7% expected. On a monthly basis, CPI was flat in July after rising for 25 consecutive months. Core CPI, which excludes energy and food prices, fell 0.3% last month, down from June’s 0.7% gain and below the forecast of a 0.5% increase.
The producer-price index increased by 9.8% annually in July, much lower than the 11.3% increase in June and the smallest annual rise since October 2021.
The U.K. economy contracted in the second quarter. Gross domestic product fell 0.1%, slightly better than the 0.2% decrease economists expected, but lower than the 0.8% increase in the first quarter.