Wholesale Inflation Accelerates in June

Excluding volatile commodity prices, the core PPI advanced 0.5% in June, above economists' expectations of a 0.1% rise.

Price increases sped up across the board. For intermediate goods -- the stuff that goes into the manufacturing of the final product -- prices rose 1.9% last month after gaining 0.3% in May. And for raw materials, prices jumped 4.6%; in May, they rose 3.6%.

Parallel with Labor's data Tuesday was word from the Commerce Department that retail sales increased by 0.6% in June. But that was largely driven by spiking gas prices, and as investors digested all the economic digits, stocks were trading basically flat Tuesday after a big jump during the previous session.