{"id":1826202,"date":"2023-01-27T11:50:38","date_gmt":"2023-01-27T16:50:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1826202"},"modified":"2023-01-27T13:08:30","modified_gmt":"2023-01-27T18:08:30","slug":"inflation-slows-in-december-still-up-5-year-over-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/inflation-slows-in-december-still-up-5-year-over-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Inflation Slows in December, Still Up 5% Year-Over-Year"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Finflation-slows-in-december-still-up-5-year-over-year%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1826202&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" style=\"display: none;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/christmas-shopping-walmart-cart-getty.jpg\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"subheading\">WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The Federal Reserve\u2019s preferred inflation gauge eased further in December, and consumer spending fell \u2014 the latest evidence that the Fed\u2019s series of interest rate hikes are slowing the economy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"a8d-pre\">Friday\u2019s report from the Commerce Department showed that prices rose 5% last month from a year earlier, down from the 5.5% year-over-year increase in November. It was the third consecutive decline.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>Consumer spending decreased 0.2% between November and December, but was revised lower to reflect a 0.1% drop from October to November. Last year\u2019s holiday sales\u00a0<a class=\"paragraph-link\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/december-retail-sales-72d4805d0d8e2f15ea5277f4e57f7921\">were sluggish for many retailers<\/a>The overall spending figures for 2022&#8217;s final two months were the lowest in over two years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"a8d-pre\">The Fed has been increasing borrowing rates in the economy steadily for almost two years. This is to slow down spending, growth, and the surging costs that have plagued the nation for the past two years. Last year, the Fed raised its benchmark rate seven times, and next week it\u2019s set to do so again.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>The central bank\u2019s key rate, which affects many consumer and business loans, is now in a range of 4.25% to 4.5%, up from near zero last March. Though inflation has been decelerating, most economists say they think the Fed\u2019s harsh medicine will tip the economy into a recession sometime this year.<\/p>\n<p>The Fed is now in a delicate situation. Chair Jerome Powell has stressed that the central banks plans to implement these policies.\u00a0<a class=\"paragraph-link\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/inflation-business-prices-jerome-powell-government-and-politics-9e7fed8f82ffbe9af205ec969e6277af\">keep boosting its key rate and to keep it elevated<\/a>It could continue until the end. However, this policy could become unsustainable if there is a severe recession.<\/p>\n<p>Friday\u2019s data may heighten concerns that the economy\u2019s primary driver, the American consumer\u2019s willingness to keep spending freely, is starting to crack under the weight of higher prices and interest rates.<\/p>\n<p class=\"a8d-pre\">The government reported Thursday that the economy was doing well.\u00a0<a class=\"paragraph-link\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/inflation-economic-indicators-economy-business-dd015c396ac2fcd49e426a648e2d2f2e?utm_source=homepage&amp;utm_medium=TopNews&amp;utm_campaign=position_04\">grew at a healthy clip in the final three months of last year<\/a>\u00a0but with much of the expansion driven by one-time factors: Companies restocked their depleted inventories as supply chain snarls unraveled, and the nation\u2019s trade deficit shrank.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>However, overall consumer spending declined in October-December quarter compared to the previous quarter and business investment fell sharply. Overall, the economy grew by 2.9% in October-December quarter, slightly less than the 3.2% pace recorded in the previous quarter.<\/p>\n<p>If consumers remain less willing to boost their spending, companies\u2019 profit margins will shrink, and many may cut expenses. This could lead to waves of layoffs. Economists at Bank of America have forecast that the economy will grow slightly in the first three months of this year \u2014 but then shrink in the following three quarters.<\/p>\n<p>An increase in frugal consumers could cause the economy to go into recession. However, they can reduce inflation. Companies can\u2019t keep raising prices if Americans won\u2019t pay the higher costs.<\/p>\n<p>Last week, the Federal Reserve\u2019s beige book, a gathering of anecdotal reports from businesses around the country, said: \u201cMany retailers noted increased difficulty in passing through cost increases, suggesting greater price sensitivity on the part of consumers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A number of technology-based companies have recently announced large layoffs. This raises concerns that the recession is near. But those job cuts haven\u2019t yet been enough to raise the unemployment rate, which remains at a half-century low.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, the number of people seeking unemployment benefits \u2014 a proxy for layoffs \u2014 declined last week to 186,000, a very low level historically. And Walmart, the nation\u2019s largest employer, said it would\u00a0<a class=\"paragraph-link\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/business-a18b282e2e2097954b4680984a5e0659\">raise its minimum wage, from $12 to $14 an hour<\/a>To help it retain and attract workers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The Federal Reserve\u2019s preferred inflation gauge eased further in December, and consumer spending fell \u2014 the latest evidence that the Fed\u2019s series of interest rate hikes are slowing the economy. Friday\u2019s report from the Commerce Department showed that prices rose 5% last month from a year earlier, down from the 5.5% year-over-year &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1888810,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"Inflation Slows in December, Still Up 5% Year-Over-Year","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[8280,5708,8640,8428],"class_list":["post-1826202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report","tag-december","tag-inflation","tag-slows","tag-year-over-year"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"Inflation Slows in December, Still Up 5% Year-Over-Year","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1826202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1826202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1826202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1888810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1826202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1826202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1826202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}