Daily Rundown

August 14, 2026

Chart of the Day

Number of the Day

-15.0

The monthly percentage change in crude food prices in July, bringing the year-to-date decline to 16.7 percent.

Quote of the Day

“I think we need to act now.”

Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack

Thursday’s Highlights

The PPI (July) was unchanged on the month and is now up by 4.7 percent year-over-year.

The core PPI (July) rose by 0.2 percent on the month and is now up by 4.2 percent year-over-year.

Initial unemployment claims (week of 8/1) rose by 9,000 to 209,000, a third straight increase.

Quick Commentary

The inflation data has been almost universally tame in the two and a half weeks since the FOMC meeting in late July. This clearly hasn’t been enough to appease the more hawkish members of the committee, but it at least opens the door to another unchanged policy stance in September and should limit the magnitude of any tightening across the remainder of the year. With inflation cooling again and the labor market numbers turning shakier over the last few months, the scope for an aggressive rate hike cycle anytime soon is extremely small.

Today’s Highlights

Retail sales

Consumer sentiment

Business inventories

Daily Trivia

Which two public figures, both of whom came to prominence in the 1950s, are the only two to rank among the top ten earning deceased celebrities in each of the last 25 years?

(Thursday’s Question: What S&P 500 company was named for two different U.S. states, but is currently headquartered in neither of them? Answer: Newmont (New York and Montana))