PPI... The Producer Price Index. It sounds a lot like CPI because both are published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and they share lots of methodology and structure. Given that CPI has been responsible for some of the biggest bond market reactions, you'd be well within your rights to expect a big sell-off after seeing something like Core PPI coming in at 0.7 vs a 0.2 forecast and 0.0 previous reading. After all, if that happened in CPI, bond yields could easily be shooting 10bps higher. But PPI is notoriously more volatile. In addition, it's most useful to the bond market due to its implications for consumer inflation. To that end, we can track the categories that flow through to PCE inflation, and those categories didn't paint nearly as inflationary a picture as the headline and core readings.
Mortgage Rates Dip Back Into The 5’s
This coverage is coming out earlier than normal due to a more interesting headline than normal. The average top-tier 30yr fixed rate fell back to 5.99% today, matching the levels seen only briefly back on January 9th, 2026 when the Fannie/Freddie bond …