Inflation

Whether at the grocery store, the gas station or the car dealer lot — inflation is hard to escape right now. Consumer prices in metro Denver rose 9.1% year-over-year in March, the biggest jump in four decades. Some items have gone up much more. Used car prices are up 38.8% on average, gasoline prices up 36% and the cost of heating and powering a home up 17% over the past year. Housing costs have become especially burdensome. Rent increases are running in the mid-teens and the typical monthly payment for someone taking…

Pants for sale at an Urban Outfitters store in Pasadena, California.Mario Anzuoni | ReutersThis year's Memorial Day sales could be key for cash-strapped Americans feeling the sting of soaring inflation.The three-day holiday weekend generally marks a big sales push, making it a good time to stock up, "especially if it's something you know you're going to need," said Simon Blanchard, an associate professor at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business.That's particularly true after the recent run-up in prices,…

Listen to article(1 minute)Discount retailers Dollar General and Dollar Tree reported earnings that beat Wall Street’s subdued expectations, sending both company’s shares sharply higher in premarket trading.The results showed resilience in the face of inflationary pressures that have weighed on consumers and rising freight and labor costs that have pressured many big retail chains. Listen to article(1 minute)Discount retailers Dollar General and Dollar Treereported earnings that beat Wall Street’s subdued…

WASHINGTON—U.S. inflation and economic growth are forecast to cool later this year and in 2023, the Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday, reflecting an economy in a moment of transition.The nonpartisan agency’s budget and economic projections came as the Federal Reserve has begun raising interest rates in an effort to combat inflation, actions that some economists and market observers believe are likely to bring an economic slowdown—and possibly a recession—in the U.S. The CBO forecasts are also likely to be…

Federal Reserve officials thought they would need to raise interest rates by a half percentage point at each of their next two meetings when they approved an increase at their meeting earlier this month. Minutes from the Fed’s May 3-4 meeting, released Wednesday, also showed officials discussed the possibility they would raise interest rates to levels high enough to deliberately slow economic growth as the central bank races to combat high inflation.…

Heading into the peak summer driving season, which kicks off on Memorial Day weekend, gasoline prices show no signs of slowing down.The national average for unleaded gas hit a new high of $4.59 per gallon Wednesday, with all 50 states above $4 per gallon, AAA data shows. Gas prices are now $1.56 more than a year ago and $1.05 more than they were when the war in Ukraine started in February, according to AAA spokesperson Andrew Gross."That sent shock waves through the oil market that have kept oil costs elevated," he said.…

Jay Laprete | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesRetailers are missing and missing big. It started last week with the Walmart and Target results which showed big inventory builds and the need for markdowns, and it's been followed up by weak earnings and outlook from Abercrombie & Fitch which sent its shares tumbling in a similar fashion to what the big box retailers experienced.Is retail the canary in the coal mine for the market? There's good reason to pose the question, though it remains harder right now to answer it in the…

Many renters believe that a cost-of-living crisis is brewing in America's major cities.New York City is showing up as a hotspot of rent inflation. The average rent for 1-bedroom apartments in Manhattan rose to $3,995 a month in May 2022 — a 41% increase from one year ago, according to Zumper.Sudden, double-digit rent spikes are hitting other hubs, including Chicago, Los Angeles, and Austin, Texas. Zumper data shows that growth is particularly strong in Sun Belt cities such as Miami, where rents have risen to $2,700 a…

Inflation is close to a 40-year high—a development that is challenging households, companies and government policy makers. Is the wave of unusually high price increases near a peak? If so, how soon will inflation slow and by how much? And most important of all, where will inflation settle in the longer-run?Here are the signals that economists are watching to anticipate how the U.S. inflation outlook is shaping up:Short-Term Inflation Momentum The inflation reading that makes headlines is an annual reading of the…

Russia's biggest mobile operator MTS said on Tuesday it has started selling discounted and used smartphones, offering Russian consumers cheaper alternatives as inflation bites and Western brands suspend shipments.Apple paused all product sales in Russia in early March, one of many Western companies to distance itself from Moscow since it sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on February 24 in what it called a special military operation.Sales of Chinese smartphone brands in Russia doubled in the first two weeks of…