Markets continued their bumpy ride from late last week with the S&P 500 seesawing throughout the week, eventually settling into a more mild day on Friday.
Consumer prices rose for the third straight month in August and a touch more than expectations (0.4% vs. 0.3% expected). Underlying the report housing and shelter, which is about a third of the measure barely increased, while vehicles, hit from lack of supply, increased by 5.4%, the most since 1969.
Efforts to secure further relief from Congress failed and the prospects don’t look particularly rosy after the Senate failed to pass their version of the next Coronavirus relief bill after Democrats weren’t happy with the proposed level of aid, which was trimmed down to $300B without the direct aid that was in the CARES Act passed in March.
Initial unemployment claims were effectively flat from the week prior, at around 884K, a bit worse than the 850K expected figure with layoffs continuing at a broad pace, even while many other workers have been brought back into the labor pool.