Welcome to Markets Desk, here's what's moving markets this hour.
Wholesale prices surged six percent in April on an annual basis, the sharpest jump since two thousand twenty two, and well above the Dow Jones consensus estimate of half a percent. That's a producer price index reading that will keep the Fed firmly on hold and adds fresh fuel to the inflation debate just as tariff pressures are still working their way through supply chains.
Speaking of trade tensions, President Trump has touched down in Beijing alongside a delegation of American CEOs ahead of what promises to be a closely watched summit with President Xi Jinping. Markets are reading this as a potential de-escalation signal, though the shadow of the Iran conflict complicates the diplomatic picture considerably, and analysts warn there is no clean resolution to the economic damage already done.
Meanwhile, eyes are turning to the Federal Reserve's future leadership. Kevin Warsh is set to inherit the chair, and Wall Street is already drawing up its list of tests — chief among them whether he can resist political pressure from the White House and build internal consensus around the structural changes he has long championed. The institutional credibility question is not a small one.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
