Consumer prices up 5 percent annually as inflation cools

[mystery-ak]

 Consumer prices up 5 percent annually as inflation cools
by Tobias Burns - 04/12/23 8:33 AM ET

Prices across the economy fell to an annual increase of 5 percent, down from 6 percent annually in February, according to data from the Labor Department.

On a monthly basis, inflation rose 0.1 percent after rising 0.4 percent in February and 0.5 percent in January.

Economists had been expecting inflation to land at 5.1 percent annually and for it to have increased by 0.2 percentage points in March, so the numbers are better than expectations.

Grocery prices dropped substantially to an 8.4 percent annual increased from 10.2 percent last month. Food prices, which are some of the inflation that consumers feed most acutely, are still running much hotter than inflation overall.

Fruits and vegetables dropped 1.3 percent on the month while meats declined by 1.4 percent.

The “core” inflation, which removes the categories of food and energy, was up 5.6 percent annually and 0.4 percent since February, somewhat higher than the headline number.

Used car prices were way down, dropping 11.2 percent annually, while rent inflation also slowed. Owners equivalent rent and rent proper both increased 0.5 percent, down from 0.7 percent and 0.8 percent.

Inflation has been coming down since the middle of last year when it topped out at 9.1 percent in June following a quantitative tightening program by the Federal Reserve.

The Fed has raised interest rates nine times in a row since last March in the fastest tightening cycle since the last time inflation spiked during the Nixon administration.

But Fed officials have been sending different signals about what the U.S. central bank should do next.

more
https://thehill.com/homenews/3945661-consumer-prices-up-5-percent-annually-as-inflation-cools/

[mystery-ak]

What to watch in March inflation report
Courtenay Brown

March U.S. inflation data out Wednesday may help answer a key question: Did the strong disinflation forces seen late last year reemerge in a notable way last month?

Why it matters: The answer may lie in the extent to which moderating prices reflected in private sector data start to appear in the government's figures.

The intrigue: Used car prices, one closely followed inflation proxy, have been rising in recent months, according to auction house Manheim.

    But that has not been reflected in the consumer price index, where used cars and truck prices have retreated for the past six months — a development that's helped hold down the overall inflation gauge.
    Analysts at Goldman Sachs, for one, anticipate that changed last month: They estimate used auto prices rose (+0.5%) in March. (Bank of America, on the other hand, expects price declines to continue in the category, though at a more moderate pace.)

more
https://www.axios.com/2023/04/11/what-to-watch-in-march-inflation-report

[catfish1957]

Pedo Joe is not going to celebrate when the dreaded "stagflation" enters back into the daily economic venacular.  Unless our DOL is going to falsify another report, I see unemployment going hot for the remainder of the year.  We are back to news items of layoffs.  Hasn't been the Carter debacled years we have had that fun.