As consumers struggle to put food on the table, inflation has fallen slightly for the first time in four years.
While the Biden administration celebrates the news of 3% inflation — after all, what else do they have to celebrate right now? — consumers are still paying 22% more in rent since 2021, and grocery stores might need to install defibrillators because of sticker shock. The price of eggs is up 85% since 2021, while the price of butter is up 29%, and the price of flour is up 29%.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell emphasized Wednesday that interest rates will not be cut until officials are convinced that inflation is heading in the right direction toward the central bank’s 2% target. That is going to take more than one month of positive news and something much more substantial than 0.1% change.
Fox Business reports on the latest economic indicators. Here’s the start of the story:
President Biden took a victory lap Thursday after inflation dropped for the first time in four years, although prices remain uncomfortably high for millions of Americans.
The U.S. Department of Labor said that the consumer price index (CPI), a broad measure of how much everyday goods like gasoline, groceries, and rent cost, dropped 0.1% in June from the previous month. It marked the first monthly decline since May 2020. Prices remain up 3% from the same time last year.
“Today’s report shows that we are making significant progress fighting inflation. Overall prices fell last month, after staying flat in May, and core inflation is the lowest in more than three years. Prices are falling for cars, appliances, and airfares, and grocery prices have fallen since the beginning of the year,” Biden said in a statement released by the White House.
“Thanks to my economic plan, wages are rising faster than prices, we’ve created 15.7 million jobs, and communities that were left behind by my predecessor are making ‘a remarkable comeback,’” he added.