The latest U.S. inflation numbers came out this week and they weren’t good. Annual inflation rose from 3.1% in January to 3.2% in February, and the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation (excluding food and energy) rose even more, hitting 3.8%. This tells us that inflation is likely here to stay for a bit longer than originally anticipated. That, in turn, tells us that higher Fed interest rates are likely to remain in effect for longer which also implies that the likelihood of a rate cut in the coming months is lower. Sure enough, 10-year US Treasury rate ticked up from 4.15% to 4.18% following the news. (Update: Today, March 14th, the producer price index, PPI, numbers also came out higher than expected and those Treasury rates ticked up further.)
The Latest U.S. Inflation in a Few Charts
The Latest U.S. Inflation in a Few Charts
The Latest U.S. Inflation in a Few Charts
The latest U.S. inflation numbers came out this week and they weren’t good. Annual inflation rose from 3.1% in January to 3.2% in February, and the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation (excluding food and energy) rose even more, hitting 3.8%. This tells us that inflation is likely here to stay for a bit longer than originally anticipated. That, in turn, tells us that higher Fed interest rates are likely to remain in effect for longer which also implies that the likelihood of a rate cut in the coming months is lower. Sure enough, 10-year US Treasury rate ticked up from 4.15% to 4.18% following the news. (Update: Today, March 14th, the producer price index, PPI, numbers also came out higher than expected and those Treasury rates ticked up further.)