Inflation in the United States stood at 2.9% in July

This Wednesday, the United States Department of Labor announced that The consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.2% in July, bringing inflation to 2.9% Compared to 3% in June, this is still a positive sign for the Federal Reserve, which has curbed the rise in inflation by raising interest rates, which currently remain at 5.50%.

The latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) also indicate that the Fed is slowly moving closer to its 2% inflation target. However, underlying inflation a measure that excludes Food and gasoline prices also rose 0.2% in July positioning itself for an annual reading of 3.2%.

Robert Frick, corporate economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, said that “while inflation generally declined, some of the key weaknesses in consumer prices worsened.”

Inflation increases 2023-2024

So far, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, these have been the year-over-year inflation increases from January 2023 to July 2024.

• January: 6.4% 2023.
• February: 6% 2023.
• March: 5% 2023.
• April: 4.9% 2023.
• May: 4.0% 2023.
• June: 3.0%2023
• July 3.2% 2023.
• August: 3.7% 2023.
• September: 3.7% 2023.
• October: 3.2% 2023.
• November: 3.1% 2023.
• December: 3.4% 2023.
• January: 3.1% 2024.
• February: 3.2% 2024.
• March: 3.5% 2024.
• April: 3.4% 2024.
• May: 3.3% 2024
• June: 3% 2024.
• July: 2.9% 2024.

Although the economy is also showing signs of stability, alarm bells were ringing at the end of July regarding a possible early cut in interest rates, after the publication of a report on employment and job creation, which indicated that the unemployment rate had risen to 4.3%.

This raised fears of a possible recession in the United States and triggered a wave of uncertainty that led to the fall of the shares of various companies on the stock market last Friday, August 2.

For Skyler WEinand, chief investment officer at Dallas-based Regan Capital, “We think the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in September, but only by 25 basis points.since a deeper cut of 50 basis points would do more harm than good, because the Federal Reserve would be signaling that it is concerned about the health of the economy,” he said.

Three more Federal Reserve meetings are scheduled for this year: September 18, November 7 and December 18 where interest rates are expected to have fallen by between 4% and 3.50%.

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