A new inflation report released today offered consumers and policymakers some relief: April prices, with volatile food and fuel prices stripped out, rose 3.6 percent over the previous year — the lowest annual increase in so-called core inflation since early 2021.
“This report was mostly good news in that it wasn’t bad news,” our economics reporter Ben Casselman told me.
He said that the stubborn price increases in recent months “had begun to erode confidence in the ‘soft landing’ narrative that had taken hold last year.
This report doesn’t erase those concerns, but it does at least ease fears that inflation was re-accelerating.”Today’s data showed progress on several fronts.
And while gasoline prices ticked up, housing costs — which have proved to be among the most stubborn — showed hints of improvement.
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Ben Casselman, “