The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the consumer price index remained unchanged in July after rising 1.3% in June. Over the last 12 months, the all items index is up 8.5% before seasonal adjustment. The unchanged value in the all items index is the result of a 7.7% decrease in the gasoline index, offset by increases in the food (1.1%) and shelter (0.5%) indexes. Energy prices are up 32.9% on a 12-month basis. Core CPI, which excludes the more volatile food and energy costs increased a seasonally adjusted 0.3% in July, a smaller increase from the previous three months. Shelter (+0.5%), medical care (+0.4%), motor vehicle insurance (+1.3%), and new vehicles (+0.6%) all contributed. The annual rate of core CPI inflation is 8.5%, unchanged from the previous month.

The US Energy Information Administration reported that US commercial crude oil inventories increased by 5.5M barrels to 432.0M barrels (5% below the five-year average) for the week ending August 5th. Crude oil refinery inputs averaged 16.6M barrels per day, an increase of 728K barrels per day as compared to the previous week’s average. Gasoline inventories increased by 5.0M barrels (6% below the five-year average), and distillate inventories decreased by 2.2M barrels (24% below the five-year average). Refineries operated at 94.3% of their operable capacity, as gasoline production increased an average of 10.2M barrels per day. Crude oil imports came in at 6.2M barrels per day, a decrease of 1.2M barrels per day as compared to the previous week. Crude oil imports averaged about 6.5M barrels per day over the last four weeks, 0.9% more than the same period last year. Total commercial petroleum inventories increased by 13.0M barrels last week.

The Labor Department reported an increase in initial jobless claims for the week ending August 6th. The seasonally adjusted initial claims reported in at 262,000, an increase of 14,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The four-week moving average was 252,000 an increase of 4,500 from the previous week’s revised average. Connecticut (+4,790) and Oklahoma (+997) led the increase in initial claims, while Massachusetts (-14,256) and Kentucky (-2,201) saw the most decreases for the week ending July 30th. For the week ending July 30th, the number of people continuing to claim unemployment also known as the insured unemployment rate was 1.0%, unchanged from the prior week. Continuing claims were reported in at 1.428M an increase of 8,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The continuing claims 4-week moving average was 1,399,250, an increase of 23,750 from the previous week’s revised level. For the week ending July 23rd, 1.478M people were receiving jobless benefits through state or federal programs, an increase of 9,206 from the previous week’s level. There were some 12.055M weekly claims filed for the comparable week in 2021.