U.S. Economic Reports

A report released by the Labor Department showed that consumer prices declined 0.1% month-over-month in April following a 0.1% increase in the previous month. Economists had estimated a 0.1% increase. The core consumer price index remained unchanged, in line with expectations.

Food prices rose 0.2%, with the cost of eating at home rising by 0.2%. Energy prices fell 1.1%, reflecting a 2.4% drop in gasoline, while fuel oil prices rose 2.3%. Shelter costs, which have a significant weighting in the headline number, remained unchanged. Annually, on an unadjusted basis, consumer prices rose 2.2% and core consumer prices climbed 0.9%.

The Energy Information Administration is scheduled to release its weekly petroleum inventory report for the week ended May 14th at 10:30 AM ET.

Crude oil stockpiles rose by 1.9 million barrels in the week ended May 7th to 362.5 million barrels, with inventories remaining above the upper limit of the average range for this time of the year.

Distillate fuel inventories rose by 1.4 million barrels, remaining above the upper boundary of the average range. However, gasoline inventories fell by 2.8 million barrels, although they remained above the upper limit of the average range. Refinery capacity utilization averaged 88.2% over the four weeks ended May 7th compared to 87.5% in the previous week.

The Federal Reserve is scheduled to release the minutes of its April 27th-28th Federal Open Market Committee meeting at 2 PM ET.

At the end of its 2-day meeting, as expected, the FOMC said it maintained the target for the federal funds rate unchanged at 0%-0.25%. In its commentary on growth, the central bank said the labor market is beginning to improve compared to its earlier view that the labor market is stabilizing. The Fed retained its assessment of economic activity, suggesting that activity has continued to strengthen.

The Fed also said growth in household spending has picked up recently, almost the same view that it held last month, when it said household spending is expanding at a moderate rate. The statement indicating that housing starts have been flat at a depressed level was left out. The Fed's commentary on inflation was retained, with the central bank expecting inflation to remain subdued for some time due to substantial resource slack.