#inflation

#inflation

the Federal Reserve Bank of New York show student loan and auto loan balances at record highs, while credit card balances have climbed to about $1.2 trillion. Delinquencies, particularly on credit cards, are also rising, with 90-day-plus late-payment rates for credit cards more than 12% higher than in prior years. Consumers are driving a lot of growth, but there are some signs of weakness for certain parts of the economy, Kan said, adding that these pressures could spill over into housing and mortgage performance.

This is the moment that Rachel Reeves was heckled by a member of the public during a visit to Sainsbury's. On Wednesday (18 February), the Chancellor paid a visit to a Sainsbury's Superstore in Sydenham, south-east London where she received a tour of the supermarket. As she was speaking to a cashier, an individual walked past her and called her a genocide supporter, in what appears to be a reference to the ongoing Israel-Gaza conflict.

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Employers added a healthy 130,000 jobs in January, the Labor Department said this week, as the unemployment rate edged down to 4.3%. The caveat? That announcement came with revisions that showed job creation flatlined over the last year, with only 15,000 jobs being added per month on average. Service sectors like finance and professional services that normally power the creation of high-paying office positions have instead been shedding jobs, perhaps reflecting employers' anticipation of AI-related cost savings.

In recent years, residual seasonality, along with delayed price adjustments in response to pandemic-era shocks, have led to upside CPI surprises in January, he told USA Today. These were no longer on full display this time around, further reinforcing our view (that) tariff-induced price increases on the goods side are largely behind us. But we aren't changing the baseline forecast for monetary policy based on one inflation reading.

Market volatility is high, with the VIX index up 5% in today's session. The latest inflation data came in better than expected, offering what should become relief for markets. Consumer prices rose 2.4% year over year last month, a cooler reading that brings inflation back toward levels last seen in mid-2025. As the gauge edges closer to the Federal Reserve's 2% target, expectations for an eventual rate cut are likely to gain momentum, even as this week's labor market data reflected strength.

They pointed to weak oil revenue, which crashed by 50% in January from a year earlier, and a budget deficit that continues to widen, even after Putin hiked taxes on consumers. A Moscow business executive also told the Post that the crisis could arrive in "three or four months" amid spiraling inflation, adding that restaurants have been closing and thousands of workers are getting laid off.

It's really hard for most Americans to remember what they put in their shopping cart," Wells Fargo agricultural economist Michael Swanson told Fortune. "And so that checkout receipt is always kind of a random surprise for them, depending on what's in it. So, I think they'll have to think about it before they're happy about it.

The U.S. dollar's value has fallen 8% over the past year, as the price of gold has skyrocketed, said the WSJ Dollar Index. Some think it is a good thing. President Donald Trump said recently a weaker dollar is great. The idea is a weaker currency boosts exports and employment while a strong currency can throttle an economy. While the idea of a weaker dollar has had supporters over the decades, economists often argue gains can be eaten up by domestic inflation and deflation.

The European Central Bank (ECB) held its key interest rates unchanged following the February meeting of the Governing Council, in line with Cebr projections. This marks the fifth consecutive hold, despite a below-target inflation reading of 1.7% in January, the lowest level since 2021. The decision to hold rates also comes despite a recent Euro rally against the dollar, which is expected to add disinflationary pressure through cheaper imports and weigh on growth by making the bloc's exports more expensive.

"softening,"

Higher-income Americans and those with college degrees have ramped up their spending more quickly in the past three years than other consumers, according to new data released Tuesday, evidence of worsening inequality that may explain some of the growing pessimism about the economy. The data, released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, also show that in the final three months of last year, lower-income and rural households faced higher inflation than higher-income households.

From 2020 to 2024, consumer prices for things like housing, groceries, energy, and everyday essentials climbed 21%, as measured by the consumer price index. During that same period, the average American worker's pay rose 18%, from about $64,000 to $75,600, according to figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.