As economies around the globe continue to recover from the pandemic-induced downturn, one of the topics receiving an ever-growing amount of attention is the prospect for a surge in the rate of inflation.
Some new housing data was released this week. Existing home sales came in higher than expected but lower than the previous month. We have seen month-over-month dips since the beginning of the year.
Headline Consumer Price Index (CPI) was hotter than expected with a gain of 5.0% versus the previous year. Core CPI was up 3.8% versus the prior year, its highest reading since 1992.
The big number being talked about this week is the unemployment rate. The reading of 5.8% is down from last month’s 6.1% and the number of unemployed people is at 9.3 million.
Equity indices languished on the week inside a very tight range. The S&P 500 gained 0.3% and the NASDAQ Composite gained 0.2% as heavyweights stalled. However, oversold names rallied as did small caps.