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The past week was another interesting one as a number of important news releases impacted markets. The two most important releases were the Price Producers Index (PPI) on Wednesday and the CPI report on Thursday.

On Wednesday, the PPI showed a decline in wholesale prices over the past month. In August, prices declined by 0.1 percent for both overall and core PPI. This was compared to an expected increase of 0.3 percent for both and an increase of 0.7 percent for both in July.

It’s now likely that the Fed will cut by at least 25 basis points next week while some believe that there is a chance of a cut of up to 50 basis points. The Fed rate is currently in a range between 4.25 percent and 4.5 percent.

Inflation figures for August were mostly in line with expectations. On an annual basis, CPI was 2.9 percent while monthly core CPI came in at .3 percent. The only deviation from the expected came when overall CPI saw an increase of .4 percent in August compared to an expected increase of .3 percent.

These figures also largely confirmed what the Fed likely anticipated long before the release came out. This was that inflation was holding steady and that the top priority was shoring up the job market.

The markets got quite a shock this week when it was announced that the economy had added 910,000 fewer jobs than what were recorded in the past year. Economists said that the news indicates greater weakness in the job market than believed and that it could signal that a recession is more likely to occur.

A jump in unemployment claims this week may also signal that the tide is starting to shift. On Thursday, it was announced that there were 263,000 requests for benefits compared to an expected 235,000. Last week, 236,000 people filed claims for unemployment benefits.

On Friday, the University of Michigan found that consumer sentiment had softened as their report came in at 55.4 compared to an expected 58.2. It was also found that respondents believed that inflation would be at 4.8 percent a year from now, which was unchanged from July.

The S&P 500 was up 1.4 percent this week to close at 6,584. This represented a gain of 91 points for an index that is at both yearly and all-time highs. For the week, the index made a low of 6,485 on Monday and a high of 6,598 on Friday before easing back.

The Dow was up 1.14 percent this week to close at 45,834. This was a gain of 515 points for another index that is making a run at all-time highs. As with the S&P 500, the Dow made its weekly low on Monday, trended higher the rest of the week and eased back to close Friday’s trading. The weekly low was 45,365 while the weekly high was 46,113.

Finally, the Nasdaq was up 1.52 percent this week to close at 22,141. This was a gain of 331 points for the tech-focused index that is up 26 percent in the past year and is also at all-time highs. The index followed the same pattern as the other two major markets starting the week off slow before gathering momentum through Friday. On Tuesday, the index hit its weekly low of 21,786 and hit the high of 22,171 on Friday afternoon.

The Fed finally will announce its rate decision on Wednesday afternoon. Retail sales data will also be released on Tuesday as well as the weekly unemployment claims report on Thursday. Central banks in Canada, Great Britain and Japan are all scheduled to announce interest rate decisions of their own next week as well.

The first full trading week of September was perhaps the most consequential in a while as a slew of data indicated the economy may be slowing. On Thursday, the ADP nonfarm payroll report came in and revealed that the economy added 54,000 jobs this month compared to an expected 73,000 and 106,000 last month.

On Friday, the BLS version of the nonfarm payroll report revealed that the economy created 22,000 jobs in August compared to an expected 75,000 and 79,000 last month. The unemployment rate also ticked slightly higher to 4.3 percent. It’s worth noting that the June jobs figure was revised downward to a net loss of 22,000.

The one thing that is clear is that market participants expect the Fed to cut interest rates by at least 25 basis points on September 17. In fact, traders have priced in a 12 percent chance that the Fed cuts by 50 basis points. Furthermore, expectations have risen that the Fed will cut more than once in 2025 and multiple times in 2026. The main rate is currently at a range of 4.25 percent and 4.5 percent.

There were a few other notable releases this week including the JOLTS report and the ISM Services and ISM Manufacturing PMIs. The JOLTS report revealed that there were 7.18 million job openings available in the United States, which could be an indication of a slowdown in hiring. The ISM Services PMI came in at 52 compared to an expected 50.9 while the ISM Manufacturing PMI came in at 48.7 compared to an expected 49.

For the second straight week, the S&P 500 stayed in a tight range, losing 0.1 percent to close at 6,481. This represented a loss of just over six points over the last five trading days. The market made its weekly low 6,367 on Tuesday morning before reversing and making its weekly high of 6,525 early Friday morning.

The Dow also spent another week in a tight trading range finishing down 0.49 percent to close at 45,400. This represented a loss of 224 points over the past week. On Wednesday afternoon, the market made a weekly low of 45,015 while it would peak at 45,728 on Friday morning.

Unlike the other two major indexes, the Nasdaq finished the week up 0.31 percent to close at 23,652. This was a gain of 73 points for a market that has outperformed the S&P and Dow throughout 2025. Over the past week, the index made a 23,002 on Tuesday morning and a high of 23,836 on Friday morning.

In international news, Australia announced Tuesday night that its GDP rose .6 percent over the past quarter. On Thursday morning, Switzerland announced that the country’s inflation rate dropped by .1 percent on a monthly basis. Finally, Canada announced Friday morning that its economy lost 65,000 jobs last month and that the country’s unemployment rate jumped to 7.1 percent.

On Wednesday, the Price Producers Index (PPI) is released while Thursday sees the release of inflation data for August. It’s expected that inflation rose .3 percent over the past month and will increase to 2.9 percent on an annualized basis.

The final trading week saw a number of important data points were released. On Thursday, it was revealed that the economy grew by 3.3 percent over the past three months, which was higher than the projected 3 percent rate.

This is seen by many as vindication of President Trump’s ability to keep the economy growing despite the risk of inflation from implementing a tariff strategy. However, the PCE Price Index found inflation was up to 2.9 percent, which is the highest since February.

The Fed typically relies more on this report when determining how close or far away it is to its target of 2 percent inflation. It’s unclear whether the Fed is still on track to cut interest rates in September given the relative strength of the economy and the possibility of further price increases.

Still, the .3 percent monthly increase in the PCE Price Index was in line with expectations. It’s safe to assume that Jerome Powell’s comments about potential cuts at Jackson Hole last week were made with the assumption that inflation would be at roughly the levels revealed on Friday.

Consumer spending was up by .5 percent and personal income was up .4 percent on a monthly basis. This gives more evidence to show that consumers are resilient and the economy remains strong even in the face of potential inflationary pressures.

The final important piece of news this week came out on Thursday in the form of the unemployment claims figures for the past seven days. Over the past week, there were 229,000 claims compared to an expected 231,000. Last week, there were 234,000 requests for benefits.

The S&P 500 was stuck in a tight trading range this week, finishing up a little more than four points to close at 6,460. This was an increase of .07 percent for an index that was up about 1 percent in August. Still, the index is about 40 points from all-time highs and is expected to continue making gains throughout the rest of the year. For the week, the market made a low of 6,433 on Tuesday morning and made its high of 6,505 on Thursday.

The Dow was also stuck in a tight range this week finishing up 13 points to close at 45,544, an increase of .03 percent. Over the past month, the Dow has gained 1.34 percent. For the week, the market made its low on Tuesday when it dipped to 45,226 and made its high of 45,648 on Thursday.

The Nasdaq gained.01 percent to close on Friday at 21,455. For the month, the index gained just over 1 percent. For the week, the index made its weekly low of 21,398 on Tuesday and a high of 21,724 on Thursday.

In international news, Australia announced on Tuesday night that inflation had accelerated to 2.8 percent on an annualized basis. This was much higher than the projected 2.3 percent and the 1.9 percent announced in July. On Thursday, Switzerland announced that its GDP for the last quarter grew by .1 percent. On Friday morning, Canada announced that its GDP dropped by .1 percent over the past month.

The upcoming week will have the ADP nonfarm payroll report released on Thursday while the BLS version comes out on Friday. The JOLTS report as well as the ISM Services PMI are also scheduled for release next week.

This past week was yet another consequential one for the markets, highlighted by indications that the Fed might be ready to lower interest rates.
On Wednesday, the Fed released its minutes from the July meeting. One key takeaway is that many voting members are still concerned about inflation and the impact that tariffs are going to have on the labor market. However, there was a consensus that there is enough evidence available to support rate cuts at some point this year.

The minutes also showed that higher inflation was a bigger concern compared to higher unemployment. Therefore, rate cuts will likely be a tool to keep prices down even if a recession is the result of such a tactic.

On Thursday, unemployment claim data was released and revealed that 235,000 people applied for benefits compared to an expected 226,000 over the past seven days. Also, the Flash Manufacturing PMI and Flash Services PMI reports came out. Manufacturing came in at 53.3 compared to an expected 49.7 whereas services came in at 55.4 compared to an expected 54.2.

On Friday, Jerome Powell spoke at the Jackson Hole Symposium, stating the Fed was meeting its dual mandate. He mentioned that employment was close to capacity and inflation for the moment was manageable. Overall, his comments seemed to add credence to the idea that cuts were coming even if he didn’t seem all that excited about doing so.

The S&P 500 closed the week up .25 percent to finish at 6,466. This represented an increase of just under 16 points since the start of trading on Monday. The market made its low of the week on Wednesday when it dipped to 6,351 before reversing and hitting a high of 6,477 on Friday. The index is currently up 2 percent in August and just over 16 percent over the past 12 months.

The Dow was up 1.51 percent this week to close at 45,631 at the close of trading on Friday. This was an increase of 680 points for an index that spent most of the week in the red before gaining over 800 points on the final day of the trading week. The index made its low of the past five days on Thursday when it fell to 44,685. On Friday, it made its high when it peaked at 45,751. In August, the Dow has gained roughly 2.5 percent and is up 12 percent over the past 12 months.

Finally, the Nasdaq was down about 122 points this week to close at 21,496. On Monday, the index made its high of the week at 21,625 before trending down the rest of the week. On Wednesday, the Nasdaq made its weekly high when it dipped to 20,962. Despite the weekly loss, the index is up about 2 percent over the past month.

In international news, Canada announced Tuesday morning that inflation was up .3 percent over the past month and hit 3.1 percent on an annual basis. Tuesday night, New Zealand announced that it would lower its key interest rate by 25 basis points to 3 percent. On Wednesday morning, Great Britain announced that inflation in that nation hit 3.8 percent on an annualized basis.

This coming Thursday will have initial GDP numbers for the second quarter being released. The PCE Price Index comes out on Friday. International traders may be interested in the Australian CPI release on Tuesday night as well as the Canadian GDP release on Friday morning.