Fed, inflation and interest rates
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Amidst a slight cooling in economic activity, inflation has been making decent progress towards the 2% target. Click to read.
Inflation expectations are elevated, but the sharp drop in May shows consumers, like investors, starting to some improvements in their outlooks.
President Donald Trump cited new inflation data in continuing to pressure Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to lower interest rates, calling him a "numbskull" but adding that he won't seek to remove him.
Consumer sentiment increased in June for the first time in six months, the latest sign that Americans’ views of the economy have improved as inflation has stayed tame and the Trump administration has reached a truce in its trade fight with China.
Consumers expect lower inflation over the next year than they did a month ago, the New York Federal Reserve found in its latest survey. Over the next 12 months, consumers expect prices to rise 3.2%, down by 0.
Vice President Vance ripped the Federal Reserve and cited President Trump’s criticism of the central bank after prices rose at a slower than expected rate in May. In a Wednesday social media
Most everyone knows about the Federal Reserve’s dual mandate. Set by Congress, the charge for the U.S. central bank is twofold: Create the conditions for stable prices (i.e., low inflation) and maximum employment. (The third mandate—to moderate long-term interest rates—flows naturally out of keeping inflation steady.)
May's Consumer Price Index (CPI) will be an important piece of inflation data to gauge the impact of President Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs from April. The report is due out Wednesday morning, June 11.