CNBC Daily Open: A flat PPI doesn't mean the U.S. is unscathed from tariffs

• Couche-Tard withdraws bid to acquire Seven & i.
• U.S. stocks rise in a rocky day of trading.
• Crypto bills finally pass in Congress.
• TSMC's second-quarter profit surged nearly 61%.
• Ether is starting to outperform bitcoin.

No one likes being the person who goes “but actually…”. Sometimes, however, it is necessary.

The U.S. producer price index in June was flat, meaning that wholesale prices remained stagnant from May to June. This might suggest that U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs are hitting the economy less than feared, in contrast to what the uptick in June's consumer price index suggested.

But actually, the PPI measures prices at the level of the manufacturer — which is located in America. In other words, the index “does not include imports, because imports are by definition not produced by domestic firms,” according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

By contrast, the CPI considers all goods and services that the consumer purchases, regardless of their country of origin. As the BLS elaborates, “imports compose a substantial portion of the CPI especially within the apparel and new-cars component.” While newvehicle prices fell 0.3% in June, those of apparel rose 0.4%, suggesting that the effects of tariffs are starting to show in some components of the CPI.

But actually, we might not know the full effect of the tariffs until after Aug. 1 when the updated ones kick in — provided Trump keeps to the deadline this time.

What you need to know today

Couche-Tard withdraws bid to acquire Seven & i. The Canadian convenience store operator cited a “persistent lack of good faith engagement” in its decision to shelve its $47 billion bid for the Japanese company. Shares of Seven & i fell as much as 9% Thursday.

U.S. stocks rise in a rocky day of trading. Major U.S. indexes fell Wednesday on Trump's reported plans to fire Fed Chair Jerome Powell, but rebounded sharply after he denied them. Asia-Pacific markets mostly rose Thursday.

Crypto bills finally pass in Congress. A group of “no” voters flipped to yesses, allowing the U.S. chamber to approve the rules of debate for legislation that involves the regulation of cryptocurrency. With fierce opposition, however, the bills' futures are uncertain.

TSMC's second-quarter profit surged nearly 61%. Sustained strong demand for artificial intelligence chips helped the Taiwanese chip manufacturer to beat revenue and net income estimates. But U.S. tariffs on Taiwan pose a headwind to the firm.

[PRO] Ether is starting to outperform bitcoin. Since its April low, ether has shot up over 130%, more than two times the 60% jump in bitcoin over the same period. ETH has also broken out of a technical pattern, implying it could have a double-digit upside.

And finally...

Meta and Google are laying a web of globe-spanning subsea cables. We found out whats involved

U.S. hyperscalers Meta and Alphabet's Google are rolling out a fast-growing web of transcontinental subsea cables, looking to keep pace with ever-increasing bandwidth demand and artificial intelligence workloads.

Researchers at the U.K.'s Oxford Internet Institute said Meta and Google's rollout of large-scale subsea cables underscores the fact that Big Tech firms “are now large enough to have a business case for individually financing something that previously required a consortium to make economic sense.”