Two important inflation reports -- the Consumer Price Index and the Producer Price Index -- were released earlier this week and both signaled that pricing pressures are again easing. For now. Both reports indicated that overall pricing pressures remain well below the peak rates in the summer of 2022. But both also confirmed that inflation remains above the Fed's target of 2.0%, and that it may take a while to get to that level. Let's first take a deeper dive into the Consumer Price Index. The news here was good, as the annualized headline number ticked lower from the previous month (2.3% versus 2.4% and 3.0% three months ago). According to the latest CPI report, the core inflation rate (ex-food and energy) was steady at 2.8%. Once again, the most encouraging data was related to Transportation Services and Shelter costs. In these sticky categories, year-over-year inflation rates have declined meaningfully. Gas prices are also sharply lower year over year, which should please consumers. The other inflation report was the Producer Price Index. The PPI measures pricing trends farther up the supply chain, at the manufacturing level. Here, the news was also generally positive. For example, the PPI final demand annual rate through April was 2.4%, compared to 2.7% a month ago and 3.7% in January. Based on the fundamentals, we expect pricing pressures to continue easing as the housing market cools due to high mortgage rates, and the price of oil stays below $90 per barrel (current price is $61). But that low price of oil reflects a new wild card that has entered the forecasting picture: Trump's trade wars. His tariffs -- should they ever go into effect -- will almost certainly raise prices, sending the inflation rate higher again. That will put new pressure on the Federal Reserve, which we think -- again, based on the fundamentals -- should be in position to lower rates in the second half of the year.

Argus has published its latest Portfolio Selector, which features its popular Focus List. Each month, Director of Research Jim Kelleher, CFA, surveys the team of Argus Research industry analysts for their timeliest recommendations out of the company's fundamental universe of approximately 500 stocks. The Focus List typically includes 30 stocks: turnover is high, as Jim typically adds three or four new stocks per month. Below are the latest additions, all of which are rated BUY at Argus.

This pick list highlights constituents of the Morningstar US Large Cap Index that we believe offer investors the best risk-adjusted return prospects. Stocks of large-cap companies where neither growth nor value characteristics predominate. Stocks in the top 70% of the capitalization of the U.S. equity market are defined as large cap.

The Vickers Top Buyers & Sellers is a daily report that identifies the five companies the largest insider purchase transactions based on the dollar value of the transactions as well as the five companies the largest insider sales transactions based on the dollar value of the transactions.