The U.S. manufacturing price index rose less than expected in July, while service prices fell by the most in nearly 1-1.5 years amid a decline in overall prices in the country. This indicates a decrease in inflationary pressure, which strengthened expectations that the refinancing rate will decrease next month. The final consumption index of industrial products rose 0.1 percent in July, while economists had forecast a 0.2 percent increase, the same as in June. In July of this year, compared to July of the previous year, the price index of industrial products increased by 2.2%, while this indicator was 2.7% in June. Prices of services decreased by 0.2% in July compared to June, while they increased by 0.4% in June.

A report from the US Labor Department on Tuesday also showed favorable trends in personal consumption expenditures (PCE), one of the main indicators of inflation in the Federal Reserve's monetary policy framework. The softening of inflation will allow the US Central Bank to focus more on the labor market. The unemployment rate rose to a three-year high of 4.3% in July, raising fears of a recession in financial markets, although most economists disagreed.

At the same time, according to economists, although the freeze in the growth of industrial product prices is good news for the Federal Reserve from the point of view of the fight against inflation, there is no deflation of the industrial product price index, therefore, they advise the officials of the reserve system to take their time and still reduce the refinancing rate to stop the decline of the economy. After the publication of the report, the yield of US Treasury bonds decreased. And Wall Street closed higher on Tuesday after this report, reaching a two-week high. The reason, according to experts, is that the data on the prices of industrial products show that the Federal Reserve system has successfully managed to curb inflation and will go to reduce the refinancing rate in September.

Starting from the 1st quarter of 2024, Warren Buffett has significantly reduced his stake in Apple. Over the past two quarters, his Berkshire Hathaway sold roughly 510 million shares of the iPhone maker, which accounted for 56% of Apple's holdings. The sudden sale of this number of shares has caused speculation that Buffett's optimism about Apple shares has decreased. It should be noted that Apple shares still make up 41% of Berkshire's portfolio. Buffett did not comment on why he gave up such a large part of Apple shares, and it is not known whether in the future he will continue to maintain his influential position in Apple, which is still considered the most valuable company in the world.

Shares of Starbucks surged on Aug. 13 after the coffee giant announced that its CEO, Laxman Narasimhan, would be replaced by Chipotle CEO Brian Nichol.

Narasimhan was appointed to the role by Starbucks in March 2023, with the hope that the latter would help revive the company, whose demand had been falling in the US and Chinese markets. However, Starbucks' stock continued to decline, during which time the company lost nearly a quarter of its value. Nicholl took over the helm of Chipotle in 2018, after which the company's annual product sales have increased dramatically, and the stock has tripled.

When Starbucks executives announced the change on Tuesday, the company's stock jumped 24.5%, adding nearly $22 billion to the company's market value. Chipotle investors, on the other hand, weren't too thrilled with the change. The company's shares fell 7.5%, reducing the company's market value by about $5 billion.

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