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U.S. Inflation and Consumer Spending Cooled in December — Prices up 5.5% from Last Year

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mystery-ak:
U.S. Inflation and Consumer Spending Cooled in December — Prices up 5.5% from Last Year

Breitbart News 27 Jan 2023

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge eased further in December, and consumer spending fell — the latest evidence that the Fed’s series of interest rate hikes are slowing the economy.

Friday’s report from the Commerce Department showed that prices rose 5% last month from a year earlier, down from the 5.5% year-over-year increase in November. It was the third straight drop.

Consumer spending fell 0.2% from November to December and was revised lower to show a drop of 0.1% from October to November. Last year’s holiday sales were sluggish for many retailers, and the overall spending figures for the final two months of 2022 were the weakest in two years.

The Fed has been steadily driving up borrowing rates across the economy, seeking to slow spending, growth and the surging prices that have bedeviled the nation for nearly two years. Last year, the Fed raised its benchmark rate seven times, and next week it’s set to do so again.

The central bank’s key rate, which affects many consumer and business loans, is now in a range of 4.25% to 4.5%, up from near zero last March. Though inflation has been decelerating, most economists say they think the Fed’s harsh medicine will tip the economy into a recession sometime this year.

more
https://www.breitbart.com/economy/2023/01/27/u-s-inflation-and-consumer-spending-cooled-in-december-prices-up-5-5-from-last-year/

mystery-ak:
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Inflation dropped to 5% in December, according to key gauge watched by Fed
by Zachary Halaschak, Economics Reporter |
January 27, 2023 08:34 AM

Inflation fell once again to a 5% rate for the year ending in December, as measured by the gauge favored by the Federal Reserve.

The decline in the personal consumption expenditures price index reported Friday morning by the Bureau of Economic Analysis is a sign that inflationary pressures are abating in the face of the Fed’s campaign to slow economywide spending by hiking interest rates. Nevertheless, inflation is still running hotter than the central bank’s target and dinging household purchasing power.

Core PCE inflation, a measure of inflation that strips out energy and food prices and is generally less volatile, is clocking in at a 4.4% year-over-year rate.

The Fed's target for inflation is 2%.

more
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/economy/inflation-dropped-up-to-5-in-december-according-to-key-gauge-watched-by-fed

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