US Inflation Rate Droped .03% in January….So?

I didn’t feel a damn thing…..

Yes, Gas prices have been lower….

But food prices and other stuff ain’t…

I’m looking for new vehicle….

The dealer says it’s gonna cost me $100 MORE a Month for the same new one….

 

• Overall inflation unexpectedly eased to 2.4 percent in January from the same time last year. That was down from the previous 2.7 percent annual pace.

• “Core” inflation, which filters out volatile food and energy prices, ticked down to 2.5 percent on a year-over-year basis. It last stood at 2.6 percent.

The takeaway

The latest C.P.I. report comes amid uncertainty over the trajectory for inflation after President Trump’s tariffs began to push up some consumer prices last year.

The impact of those levies has been less than initially feared, but it is not clear if the full effects have materialized. That has left economists and policymakers to wonder how much higher inflation may rise and when it will begin to retreat.

The latest inflation data, released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, came in below economists’ forecasts, offering some relief to those concerned about a re-acceleration. But stubbornly high “core” inflation suggests some stickiness to certain price pressures, likely keeping policymakers wary about cutting interest rates too quickly.

Why did inflation ease in January?

Economists had expected both overall and core inflation to rise 0.3 percent in January. The broader metric instead notched a 0.2 percent monthly increase, while the core gauge rose 0.3 percent over the same period.

Food prices rose in January, but only modestly. Energy prices fell 1.5 percent alongside costs associated with used cars and trucks and car insurance. That helped to offset increases in other categories like airfares, which rose 6.5 percent last month. Services related to personal care rose 1.2 percent, while those for recreational activities rose 0.5 percent. Internet services rose 1.8 percent in January and are up 3.5 percent from a year earlier.

Housing costs, which make up more than a third of the overall index, rose just 0.2 percent for the month. The closely watched metric tracking the rental cost of owned housing was up 3.3 percent compared to the same time last year…

…

Over the course of last year, the average tariff rate on U.S. imports swelled to 13 percent from just 2.6 percent, as the president raised levies on nearly all of the country’s trading partners. He later granted exemptions on certain products. Using import data through November, a group of economists at the bank found that nearly 90 percent of the economic costs associated with tariffs have fallen on U.S. businesses and their customers.

For much of last year, companies tried to avoid raising prices on their customers to cover higher expenses tied to tariffs. They did that in part by building up inventories before the levies were imposed. Others opted to absorb the higher costs themselves, resulting in reduced profits.

Those stockpiles are mostly gone now, and many companies have exhausted other avenues to defray the costs. That has resulted in higher prices for tariff-sensitive items like furniture, household appliances and apparel….

More…

 

Note…

I KEEP Saying…..

Tariff’s ARE IMPORT TAXES….

U.S. businesses and consumers bore about 90 percent of the cost of President Trump’s sweeping tariffs, according to a recent report by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

The study, published Thursday, found that the majority of costs that came from tariffs were passed onto the American public in the first 11 months of 2025, contradicting Trump’s promises that foreign companies would pay the import taxes. ..

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