1) Import prices rose for an eight straight month in May despite a drop in fuel costs, with the year-on-year increase reaching its highest level in nearly three years, according to the Labor Department.

Import prices climbed 0.2 percent last month, confounding forecasts for a 0.7 percent decline and following April's revised 2.1 percent jump. In the year to May, import prices surged 12.5 percent, the largest gain since September 2008.

Exports prices rose 0.2 percent after a downwardly revised 0.9 percent gain. Analysts had been looking for a 0.3 percent gain.