U.S. inflation eases but threats loom

Inflation in the U.S. slowed more than expected in February. This provided a temporary break from rising prices. However, this progress may not last long. President Donald Trump is increasing his trade war. This could cause prices to go up for Americans. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) measures price changes for commonly bought goods and services. It was 2.8% for the 12 months ending in February. This was down from the 3% annual rate in January. The Bureau of Labor Statistics released this data on Wednesday. In February, prices rose by 0.2% from the previous month. This was a decrease from the 0.5% rise in January. Economists predicted inflation would slow down. This was due to falling gas prices and less inflation in housing costs. Grocery prices stayed stable in February. Gas prices also went down.

u.s. cpi data shows mixed signals

These two factors helped the inflation numbers come in better than expected. However, egg prices are still very high. They rose by 10.4% in February. This was slower than the 15.2% increase in January. An ongoing bird flu is affecting the egg industry. Egg prices are up 58.8% from a year ago. Food and fuel prices change a lot from month to month. Weather, disease, supply problems, high demand, and other temporary issues cause this. These categories are left out of “core” CPI measurements. Core CPI gives a sense of underlying inflation trends. Core CPI in February was also better than expected. It rose 0.2% for the month. This was down from 0.4% in January. The annual rate slowed to 3.1% from 3.2%. This story is still developing. It will be updated with more information. Image Credits: Photo by jennifer uppendahl on Unsplash