Rates inched higher Wednesday following yesterday’s sharp sell-off of mortgage-backed securities (MBS), although MBS recovered some of their losses this morning. In economic news, April Industrial Production fell 0.5%, below the consensus forecast of -0.2%. The Empire State Index declined by 1.4%. An increase of 3.5% had been expected. The Producer Price Index (PPI) fell 0.7% in April and was a tame 0.6% higher than one year ago. Core PPI, which excludes volatile food and energy components, rose 0.1% and increased 1.7% year-over-year. No other key data will be released today.