The economy, inflation and how those forces could impact the lives of Americans were front and center over the past week. Trips to the grocery store or gas station are more painful than they were last year, and rising costs are impacting the decisions of both households and businesses.
Here’s a snapshot of prominent economic data and news that occurred over the past week and what it potentially means for you.
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Elon Musk becomes the world's first trillionaire
The world’s richest man has become its first trillionaire.
Shares in Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX soared 25% after opening for trading Friday, an auspicious start for history’s biggest initial public offering and enough to push the net worth of its founder and CEO over the trillion dollar mark.
That price gave the company a market value of $2.21 trillion. Musk, who also is a major shareholder and CEO of Tesla, is now worth an estimated $1.1 trillion, according to Forbes.
Inflation hits 3-year high
Rising gas prices pushed inflation to its highest level in three years last month, a headache for the Federal Reserve and a potential political challenge for the Trump administration as midterm elections near.
Consumer prices rose 4.2% in May from a year earlier, the Labor Department said Wednesday, up from 3.8% in April and the third straight increase. On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.5% last month, after big gains of 0.6% in April and 0.9% in March.
Outside energy costs, price increases were not as dramatic, a sign that inflation hasn’t yet spread throughout the economy. Should the Iran war end and oil and gas prices decline, headline inflation could begin to cool. Gas prices have fallen this month.
US producer prices spike in May at fastest pace in more than 3 years
U.S. producer prices climbed last month at the fastest pace since November 2022, fueled by a surge in energy prices after the start of the Iran war.
The Labor Department reported Thursday that its producer price index — which captures inflation before it reaches consumers — jumped 6.5% from May 2025. It rose 1.1% from April, as it did the previous month. Wholesale gasoline prices surged by more than 23% from April to May, and nearly 70% from a year earlier.
Excluding volatile food and energy prices, so-called core wholesale prices rose 0.4% from April and 4.9% from May 2025.
Social Security’s retirement trust fund faces funding shortfall one year earlier than expected
Social Security’s retirement trust fund is projected to face a funding shortfall in 2032, a year earlier than last year’s projections, according to an annual report released Tuesday, while Medicare’s hospital insurance trust fund will be unable to pay full benefits in 2033, which is unchanged from last year’s estimate.
Rising healthcare costs and government spending have contributed to a projected depletion date that is less than 10 years from now.
The looming challenge for the programs is a partial funding gap, not a collapse. Even after trust fund depletion, the system will continue issuing benefits, albeit at reduced amounts.
Last year, Medicare’s hospital insurance trust fund go-broke date was pushed to 2033 from 2036 the year before that, according to the report from the programs’ trustees.
Meanwhile, Social Security’s combined trust funds — which cover old age and disability recipients — will be unable to pay full benefits beginning in 2034, unchanged from the 2025 report. After that, incoming revenue would cover about 83% of scheduled benefits.
May home sales surge to fastest pace this year
Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes accelerated last month to their fastest pace since December, a sharp turnaround in demand after a lackluster start to the spring homebuying season.
Existing home sales rose 3.2% in May from the previous month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.17 million units, the National Association of Realtors said Tuesday. Sales also rose 3.2% compared with May last year.
Home sales increased from a year earlier in the Midwest, South and West, but fell in the Northeast, NAR said.
The latest sales figure topped the roughly 4.07 million pace economists were expecting, according to FactSet.
Home sales have been mostly hovering close to a 4 million annual pace going back to 2023, far short of the historic norm that is closer to 5.2 million.
Average US long-term mortgage rate rises to just below high for the year
The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate ticked up this week to just below its high for the year, the latest sign that borrowing costs on home loans remain elevated relative to where they were before the war with Iran started.
The benchmark 30-year fixed rate mortgage rate rose to 6.52% from 6.48% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. Despite the increase, the average rate remains below 6.84%, where it was a year ago.
Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, often sought by borrowers refinancing a home loan, also rose this week. That average rate climbed to 5.84% from 5.79% last week. A year ago, it was at 5.97%, Freddie Mac said.
When mortgage rates rise they can add hundreds of dollars a month in costs for borrowers, reducing their purchasing power.
Unemployment claims climb modestly
U.S. applications for jobless aid rose modestly last week, but remain at a historically low level despite economic headwinds brought on by the war in Iran.
The number of Americans filing for unemployment aid for the week ending June 6 rose by 4,000 to 229,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s the most since early February, before the U.S. and Israel launched attacks on Iran, but still considered a healthy level. It’s also more than the 216,000 new applications forecast by analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet.
Weekly filings for unemployment benefits are considered a proxy for U.S. layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market.
Wall Street drifts as oil declines
U.S. stocks rose this week as oil prices continued to retreat.
The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average both rose. The Nasdaq composite was lower.
Stocks got a lift from a dip for the price of Brent crude oil, deepening its loss for the week. Oil prices have come down since President Donald Trump on Thursday called off his threat to launch strikes on Iran and said a potential deal with Iran may be imminent.