US Equity Indexes Claw Back Losses as Investors Weigh Producer Price Inflation, Jobless Claims Ahead of Alaska Summit

04:42 PM EDT, 08/14/2025 (MT Newswires) -- US equity indexes were little changed at the close of trading on Thursday, rebounding from a softer open as investors weighed inflation and jobs data ahead of Friday's US-Russia summit in Alaska.

The Nasdaq fell less than 0.1% to 21,710.67. The S&P 500 was up less than 0.1% to 6,468.54, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was less than 0.1% lower at 44,911.26.

Health and financials led the gainers, while materials and industrials were among the steepest decliners.

The odds of a 25-basis-point cut in September regained to 93% late on Thursday afternoon, after falling to 89% earlier in the day, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.

The US Producer Price Index rose 0.9% in July from flat in June, above the 0.2% forecast in a survey compiled by Bloomberg and the largest monthly gain since June 2022, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Core PPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, was also up 0.9% from the 0.2% increase expected. The gain was the largest since March 2022, the BLS reported Thursday.

Headline PPI was up 3.3% year-over-year in July, while the core PPI rate accelerated to 3.7% annually, both beating the respective 2.4% and 2.6% June rates.

Meanwhile, the seasonally adjusted number of initial claims moved down by 3,000 to 224,000 for the week ended Aug. 9, according to the Department of Labor. The consensus was for a smaller decrease to 225,000 in a Bloomberg poll. Last week's reading was revised up by 1,000 to 227,000.

Treasury yields advanced, with the 10-year yield up 4.9 basis points to 4.29% and the two-year rate climbed 4.5 basis points to 3.73%.

The ICE US Dollar Index rose 0.4% to 98.20.

Gold futures fell 0.7% to $3,384.1 per ounce, and silver futures dropped 1.5% to $38.02.

In geo-political developments, Russian President Vladimir Putin praised the Trump administration's "energetic" efforts to stop the war in Ukraine and hinted that Moscow and Washington could strike a deal on nuclear arms control during their summit on Friday in Alaska, CNN reported Thursday. The comments come on the eve of the Russian leader's meeting with President Donald Trump on Friday to help reach a peace deal with Ukraine.

In his first public comments since Trump announced the Alaska summit, Putin on Thursday chaired a meeting of senior Russian officials at the Kremlin to brief them on the state of play in negotiations with the US on Ukraine, the news report said.

"The current American administration... is making, in my opinion, quite energetic and sincere efforts to stop the hostilities, stop the crisis and reach agreements that are of interest to all parties involved in this conflict," Putin was cited as saying.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures jumped 2.2% to $64.03 a barrel.

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