Week of 08/07-08/11 CPI and PPI Reports, Stocks Mixed

The stock market finished the week lower marking its second consecutive week of overall losses. This comes mainly from news of semiconductor import/export policies affecting the technology industry sector which has been leading the recent rally. AMD as well as NVDA have been within the many names of companies affected by the recent selloff. If that wasn't enough, the CPI and PPI reports came out which left economics and investors with mixed feelings. The CPI came in just above better than expected results, but did not bring enough confidence to determine that inflation is cooling down. The PPI report rose by 0.2% in July which indicates the cost of services has increased. The Federal Reserve decision to raise interest rates by a quarter point this month still lingers in investor's minds as economic conditions tighten and economic reports remain fairly stagnant. The two sectors that made progress during this week were healthcare and energy sectors. Mega cap stocks continue to be in focus for next week as tech stocks driven by the AI demand continue to give investors hopes of avoiding a recession later this year.