this United States Federal Reserve There was some positive news on inflation at the June meeting on Wednesday afternoon. this consumer price index Data released on Wednesday showed that the temperature dropped slightly in May, with all indicators before seasonally adjusted increasing by 3.3% compared with the same period last year. Bureau of Labor Statistics (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
That’s down from April’s annual growth rate of 3.4%. From a month-on-month perspective, all indices were flat, which was the first monthly increase since July 2022.
Despite the slowdown in inflation, economic experts do not expect the Fed to make any major changes to interest rates at Wednesday’s meeting.
“It is highly unlikely that the Fed will cut interest rates, but the committee will release its latest economic forecast, a so-called dot plot, which may indicate that the Fed currently expects only two rate cuts in 2024,” said Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist. Home Bright MLS, said in a statement. “With mortgage rates stuck around 7%, the timing of the Fed’s rate cut has been widely scrutinized. But the delay in the Fed’s rate cut isn’t the only reason mortgage rates will stay higher for longer. Record-breaking The federal debt has also kept mortgage rates high.
The index for all items excluding food and energy increased by 3.4% year-on-year in May, with housing costs increasing by 5.4% year-on-year, accounting for more than two-thirds of the total 12-month increase. Compared with April, the all-items index excluding food and energy rose 0.2%, down from April’s monthly gain of 0.3%. Similarly, the housing index rose 0.4% month-on-month and was the largest contributor to the index’s rise.
Other indexes that posted sequential gains included health care (0.5%), used cars and trucks (0.6%) and education (0.4%). Indices such as air fares (-3.6%), new cars (-0.5%), communications (-0.3%) and entertainment (-0.2%) all experienced monthly declines.
Although the energy index fell 2.0% on the month, driven by a 3.6% drop in gasoline prices, the annual rate was still up 3.7%. The food index increased by 2.1% on an annual basis and 0.1% on a monthly basis respectively.
