As the banking system and markets stabilized, all eyes were on the latest inflation data which matched economists’ projections, according to the latest Consumer Price Index.
- Y-O-Y: The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers increased to 6.0% in February, down from 6.4% in January and the lowest level since September 2021.
- M-O-M: Consumer prices rose 0.4% from January, down from the 0.5% increase last month.
Hit The Nail On The Head. Economists hit the nail on the head with annualized and monthly numbers.
Core’s A Little Hot. The core index’s monthly increase was slightly hotter than expected with a 0.5% increase from January while the year-over-year number was spot on at 5.5%.
- Shelter costs continue to push the core index higher with another record 8.1% year-over-year increase thanks to a record 0.8% increase month-over-month in February.
- Used cars & trucks reported a huge 2.8% drop from January pushing the annualized rate down to 13.6%
Food & Energy. Food inflation fell under 10.0% for the first time since April 2022 dropping to 9.5% in February. Groceries stayed in double-digit territory (10.2%) while food at restaurants dropped to 8.4%.
- Energy prices fell 0.6% from January to push the year-over-year rate down to 5.2%.