On Tuesday, ABC News Business Reporter Alexis Christoforous said that the May CPI report shows that prices are “still on the rise,” and that the “uncomfortably high” core inflation measure shows “that inflation is becoming sticky in certain areas of the economy. And so, consumers are still struggling.”
Christoforous stated, “Well, the Fed’s ten interest rate hikes since last March are filtering through the economy very slowly, but they’re starting to make a dent in consumer prices. That’s the good headline news here. So, prices still on the rise, up 4% from a year ago. But that’s about half where we were in June. Remember, we were talking about peak inflation at over 9%. When we took a look inside this report, a mixed situation, energy prices down more than 3.5% in May. Gas prices, we know, have been on the decline. So, that’s been good news. But shelter continues to be a huge contributor here in this report, up 0.6% month-over-month and up 8% in just the past year. Food prices, increasing 0.2% as well.”
She continued, “So, the core inflation report, that’s if you take out volatile food and energy costs, we’re actually uncomfortably high. And so, that means that inflation is becoming sticky in certain areas of the economy. And so, consumers are still struggling.”
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