Today’s Top Stories From the Breitbart News Desk

[Maganomics]( Today’s Top Stories From the Breitbart News Desk The Department of Labor’s Producer Price Index (PPI) may seem an unlikely place to find signs of a stronger-than-expected economic recovery, but these are unusual times. The PPI is the lesser-known cousin of the Consumer Price Index (CPI). But where the CPI measures prices consumers pay, the PPI measures prices sellers receive at various stages in the economy. Typically, the two more or less track each other, although they’ve been known to diverge from time to time. The August PPI figures came in hotter than the expected 0.2%, showing a 0.3% monthly increase. That’s good news because it suggests healthy demand in the economy. Even better news, a 0.5% rise in the services component drove the price increase, showing rising demand in a part of the economy that the pandemic and social-distancing rules have hit particularly hard. The least understood component of the PPI is likely “trade services.” Where the rest of the index is based on changes in prices for goods and services sold, trade services measures the margins of sellers – the difference between what they pay for inventory and what they ultimately sell those items for. This jumped 1.2% in August, accounting for two-thirds of the rise in the overall services component. Increased profitability is the best economic stimulus there is. Rising margins in August can, at least in part, offset the loss of various government support measures, such as enhanced unemployment benefits and the wind-down of the Paycheck Protection Program. Stocks initially seemed pleased with the data this morning but sold off in the afternoon. Investors appear to be nervous about the heady valuations of many of the pandemic favorites, especially tech stocks. The S&P 500’s IT sector was the second-worst performer today (energy was the worst). Year to date, however, IT is up nearly 44%. So even with the sell-off, many of these companies may appear expensive to investors nervous about market risk. – Alex Marlow, Breitbart News Network --------------------------------------------------------------- TOP STORY [image] [Services Sector Prices and Store Margins Indicate Economic Lift In August]( U.S. producer prices rose more than expected in August, buoyed by a bounce in the prices businesses received for services. The higher-than-expected figures indicate solid demand in August and point toward a recovery for the services sector after the pandemic’s staggering blows. [[Click here for more]( Recommended Link [An Urgent Briefing]( [ad_img]( Dan Denning here, Bill Bonner's longtime colleague. This is the most dangerous – and potentially profitable – market that could come around in our lifetime. Bill and I teamed up with some of the brightest investment minds who appear to have predicted exactly what’s happening right now… …and who are showing their readers how to make (or preserve) money, instead of losing it in the midst of what could be the worst crisis of our lifetime. To hear from these experts, and find out what you can do to profit, [click here to read Bill’s urgent briefing](. [Click here]( - IN OTHER STORIES… [U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Stall at 884,000]( U.S. weekly jobless claims held steady at 884,000 last week, slightly above Wall Street expectations. Economists had forecast initial claims to drop to around 850,000 from 881,000 originally reported last week. Last week’s figure was revised up by 3,000 to 884,000. Last week’s figures were the lowest since the pandemic drove unemployment claims to unprecedented highs. [[Click here for more]( [Survey: American Consumers Post Record $60 Billion First-Quarter Credit Card Debt Pay Down]( Americans started 2020 with more than $1 trillion in credit card debt after a $76.7 billion net increase last year, but a survey finds that during the first quarter of the year, consumers paid down a record $60 billion. [[Click here for more]( [Former NSA Spymaster Keith Alexander Joins Amazon Board of Directors]( Gen. Keith Alexander, the former chief of the NSA, has joined Amazon’s board of directors, according to a recent SEC filing. Alexander was in charge of the NSA when it was revealed that the agency engaged in widespread electronic surveillance of American citizens. [[Click here for more]( --------------------------------------------------------------- FROM THE MAGANOMICS INSTITUTE… [Sleight of Hand]( The pandemic has distracted the world from what else is going on… [[Click here for more]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Get Instant Access Click to read these free reports and automatically sign up for daily research. [image]( [The Ultimate Guide to Taking Back Your Privacy]( [image]( [The Three Best Gold Coin Deals on the Market Today]( [image]( [An Insider's Guide to Making a Fortune from Small Tech Stocks]( [Maganomics]( Maganomics Institute 55 NE 5th Ave, Delray Beach, FL 33484 [www.maganomics.com]( To ensure our emails continue reaching your inbox, please [add our email address]( to your address book. This editorial email containing advertisements was sent to {EMAIL} because you subscribed to this service. To stop receiving these emails, click [here](. Maganomics welcomes your feedback and questions. But please note: The law prohibits us from giving personalized advice. To contact Customer Service, call toll free Domestic/International: 1-888-415-6046, Mon–Fri, 9am–7pm ET, or email us [here](mailto:memberservices@maganomics.com). © 2020 Signal to Noise, LLC. All rights reserved. Any reproduction, copying, or redistribution of our content, in whole or in part, is prohibited without written permission from Signal to Noise, LLC. [Privacy Policy]( | [Terms of Use](