US producer prices held steady in July after a 0.1% decline in June, with energy prices down 3.1% and food prices down 0.9%.
Core prices, which exclude food and energy, rose by 0.2% after a 0.4% gain, below expectations.
The year-over-year rise in producer prices slowed to 4.7% from 5.5% in the prior month, while core prices slowed to 4.2% year-over-year after a 4.7% year-over-year increase in the previous month, still elevated.
Initial jobless claims increased by 9,000 to 209,000 in the week ended Aug. 8, maintaining the four-week moving average after six straight decreases.
Insured claims fell by 22,000 to 1.777 million in the week ended Aug. 1, exactly reversing the previous week's gain.
Natural gas stocks rose by 36 billion cubic feet to 3.153 trillion cubic feet in the week ended Aug. 7, down 0.8% from a year earlier but 6.7% higher than the seasonal average for the current week over the previous five years.