The Consumer Price Index report for January is expected to show broadly unchanged annual inflation according to nowcasts. That may be broadly good news for the Fed.

Wesley Grubbs created InflataCart, a handy app that lets users track the cost of grocery items based on inflation levels.

Progress on inflation should stall this year” as fiscal, immigration and trade policies shift, caution Bank of America economists.

Entering 2025, models from forecasting companies like Trading Economics anticipate inflation rates between 2.4% and 2.9% between the end of 2024 and the start of 2026. Unfortunately, actually predicting inflation can be difficult, as rates can be affected by a variety of factors, including political climates and supply-chain interruptions.

Recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the cost of living continues to outpace earnings, leaving many Americans struggling to make ends meet.

The dynamic is reflected in the chart below, which shows low-income inflation increases outpacing those for the other four quintiles since 2006, and over a nearer-term timeframe. From the end of 2005 through June 2024 — the latest available data — the lowest-income cohort saw prices increase 64%,

Newly released federal inflation data shows that prices rose last month. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Wednesday released its Consumer Price Index, a key marker of inflation, which jumped 0.4% in December,

Economists like me rely on data from federal data collection agencies like the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). They provide critical data on

The Consumer Price Index rose 2.9 percent from a year earlier, but a measure of underlying inflation was more encouraging.

And all this productivity is why wage growth keeps beating inflation, said Betsey Stevenson, a professor of economics at the University of Michigan. “Real wage growth has to come from productivity growth. Because we’re doing more with less, we get more in the end,” she said.

The better-than-expected data sent the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average surging more than 700 points, or 1.7%, as investors felt renewed confidence that the Fed will cut rates multiple times this year. In recent trading, fed-fund futures showed the chances of more than one cut rising to 46%, from 35% on Tuesday, according to CME Group data.

Measuring key aspects of a nation’s economy is important, but the metrics used are often misunderstood by many. Quantifying output of goods and services, price levels, and labor use provides