Producer prices in the United States rose more than expected in July, indicating that rising commodity costs and supply bottlenecks are still aggravating corporate inflationary pressures. Data released by the Ministry of Labor on Thursday showed that the producer price index (PPI) for final demand in July increased by 1% month-on-month and 7.8% year-on-year, the largest year-on-year increase since 2010; core PPI excluding food and energy rose month-on-month 1%, a year-on-year increase of 6.2%.

In the second quarter of the United States, residential prices set a record high, and the buyer's market was fiercely competitive. The National Association of Realtors issued a report on Thursday that the median price of second-hand single-family houses rose 23% year-on-year to an all-time high of US$357,900. Of the 183 metropolitan areas, 94% reported double-digit house price growth, which is higher than the 89% in the first quarter.

U.S. mortgage interest rates soared to their highest level in a month. Freddie Mac said on Thursday that the average 30-year mortgage interest rate was 2.87%, surpassing last week's 2.77% and the highest level since July 15. Since the beginning of July, mortgage interest rates have been below 3%. Cheaper borrowing costs supported the rise in housing prices during the epidemic, and further pushed up housing prices in the face of a shortage of houses for sale. It is now difficult for buyers to find affordable properties. Mortgage interest rates follow the trend of benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yields, which rose this week.

In the case of a surplus of US dollars, the use of the Fed's reverse repurchase tool once again soared to more than US$1 trillion. On Thursday, 74 institutions deposited US$1.087 trillion in the Fed’s overnight reverse repurchase operation, a record high. New York Federal Reserve data shows that the previous record high was $1.04 trillion set on July 30. This result is not very unexpected, but it does make the situation where the imbalance of the short-term capital market leads to increased downward pressure on short-term interest rates once again become the focus.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) released its monthly report, lowering its forecast of oil demand for the organization by 1.1 million barrels per day in 2022 when the output of its ally Russia is about to strengthen. After the alliance decided to increase production last month, Russia, as a member of the OPEC+ alliance, is expected to increase production. The revised outlook shows that OPEC will have oversupply to the global oil market in the first half of 2022, especially if the planned increase in production is implemented.

Due to the resurgence of the epidemic to impact the demand of major oil-consuming countries, the International Energy Agency (IEA) "substantially" lowered its global oil demand forecast for the rest of this year, and expects that there will be an oversupply situation in 2022. The Paris-headquartered IEA just urged OPEC + “open the gate” to increase production a month ago, otherwise it may face the harm caused by the sharp rise in oil prices. This statement marked a significant change in its position.

The British economy continued to maintain its recovery momentum in June, and its growth rate accelerated faster than analysts expected. The National Bureau of Statistics of the United Kingdom said on Thursday that gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 1% month-on-month, higher than the 0.6% increase in the previous month. This makes the second quarter economic growth rate of 4.8%, close to the 5% growth rate predicted by the Bank of England last week.

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