inflation eased six months in a row
consumer price index (cpi), one of the most common measures of inflation, for december 2022 was released at 8:30am this morning
overall cpi showed a 6.5% increase from a year earlier, and core cpi showed a 5.7% increase from a year earlier
overall cpi, or "all items cpi" accounts for all categories (i.e. food, energy, new vehicles, used cars, apparel, transportation, etc.)
core cpi, on the other hand, excludes food and energy price changes from the overall cpi, as food and energy prices tend to be very volatile
the fed may be doing something right
the fed began raising interest rates in march 2022, and since then, the federal funds rate has gone from near zero to 4.25~4.5% currently
all of that was to try to tame or reduce inflation rate, which peaked in june 2022 and has subdued since
imo: the fed is likely not done raising rates at this point though, but updated inflation data this morning may give more certainty for the fed to raise rates by .25% instead of by .50% in its upcoming february meeting
how’s the market responding?
a little more optimism, hoping that rates will be raised less in the near future – as of writing, all three major indexes (s&p 500, dow, nasdaq) are in the green
investors are buying us treasuries, lifting bond prices and lowering yields – the us 10-year yield is down more than 2% today, as of writing
💡 something im thinking about
apple’s working on airpods lite (click image)
that's all, folks 🐒
