Newsroom
NAFCU’s Yosif: Inflation slowing, but not quickly
On a seasonally-adjusted basis, overall consumer prices rose 0.4 percent in April, with the overall consumer price index (CPI) rising 5 percent year-over-year. NAFCU Economist Noah Yosif analyzed the data in a new Macro Data Flash report.
“Inflation is continuing on a welcome downtrend, but at a suboptimal cadence,” said Yosif. “Goods inflation had been decelerating, but April’s print showed a reversal as gas and used vehicle prices spiked. Reports suggest that wholesale prices for used cars have declined more recently, which should appear in the May or June CPI reports.”
Core prices (excluding food and energy costs) rose 0.4 percent compared to the previous month. Year-over-year core CPI growth was 5.5 percent.
Energy prices increased 0.6 percent during the month. From a year ago, energy prices were down 4.9 percent. Food prices stayed flat in March and are up 7.6 percent compared to this time last year.
“Without a significant reduction to wage pressures and overall labor costs, further disinflation in core services will be slow and uneven. A potential credit crunch arising from recent volatility within the banking sector as well as a slowdown in economic activity could help ease tightness within the labor market, but neither have yet been substantially demonstrated by incoming economic data. Overall, the headline figure for inflation was strong, but the details of this report are not substantial enough to suggest additional rate hikes remain on the horizon at this juncture,” concluded Yosif.
For more up-to-date economic insights from NAFCU's award-winning research team, view NAFCU's Macro Data Flash reports.