If you’re expecting a reprieve after January’s disappointing inflation report, well….don’t. The February consumer price index is projected to show another monthly leap in prices that keeps annual inflation elevated and the Federal Reserve wary about cutting interest rates in the near term.
More encouraging news is in the offing from retail sales, which probably picked up after a feeble January showing.
And Americans’ perceptions about the economy and inflation likely held steady or dipped in March amid rising gasoline prices and a volatile stock market.
Is inflation expected to go down?
30,000-foot view: After a pandemic-induced spike, inflation has tumbled to about 3% from 9.1% in mid-2022 but progress toward the Fed’s 2% goal has been halting lately. The consumer price index rose 0.3% in January, a bit faster than the recent trend, but that still lowered annual inflation to 3.1% from 3.3%.
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Meanwhile a core CPI measure that strips out volatile food and energy items also accelerated, climbing 0.4% and keeping the yearly rise at 3.9%. While goods prices continued to fall or rise modestly, the cost of services is still increasing smartly, in part because of workers’ healthy pay increases.
The forecast: On Tuesday, the Labor Department is expected to announce that consumer prices overall jumped 0.4% on more expensive gasoline, holding annual inflation at 3.1.%. according to a Bloomberg survey of…
