Consumer prices rose more than expected in August, mainly because of higher housing and grocery costs. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased 0.4% for the month, bringing the annual inflation rate to 2.9%, slightly above July’s 2.7%. This rise in essential goods means many consumers are feeling more financial pressure, especially as wage growth begins to slow down. The data suggests that the cost of living continues to climb despite earlier signs that inflation might be cooling.
The report comes just before the Federal Reserve’s meeting, where officials are expected to cut interest rates to support a softening job market. Even with slightly higher inflation, markets are predicting a quarter-point rate cut, with more cuts likely later this year. The Fed’s decisions are also playing out against a political backdrop, as President Trump has criticized Chairman Jerome Powell for keeping rates too high and is attempting to remove a Fed board member, a case now heading to the Supreme Court.
Source : https://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/articles/consumers-faced-higher-inflation-in-august-as-housing-groceries-spike
4 comments:
I as a consumer have felt immense pressure recently when buying groceries. I am interested to see what the Supreme Court decides.
I did a very similar article and also find it very interesting that the inflation rate is growing in this way. It will be very interesting to see how this develops over the next couple of months and what the federal reserve decides to do.
The Fed finds themselves in a hard position without the further stress of political intervention. The real question is how many cuts to expect moving forward after this meeting. If the Fed continues to ease, throughout the next year there may be some problems.
I think that it will be interesting to see what the Fed's do. By president Trump putting a decent amount of pressure on the Fed's I believe that there is a possibility that the pressure from politicians could force them to cut more interest rates then they originally wanted to.
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