In another blow to Joe Biden’s economic agenda, the July numbers for the Consumer Price Index (CPI) saw inflation jump back up with headline inflation jumping up 3.2 percent compared to June’s 3 percent increase. The news comes a day after the President gave an economic speech flanked by dozens of signs that read “BIDENOMICS” in an attempt to lean into a term often used to describe his economic ineptitude.
Core CPI, a number that the Federal Reserve takes into consideration when deciding interest rates, increased from 4.5 percent to 4.7 percent. Even a small increase in core CPI is likely of concern to the the Federal Reserve and its Chairman Jerome Powell who have not wavered from their inflation target of 2 percent.
The increase in inflation comes as an ominous sign for investors who had hoped the Federal Reserve might continue to put a pause on rate hikes for the remainder of 2023. The new inflation number is likely to increase pressure on the Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) to announce at least one additional interest rate hike one of the three remaining meetings for 2023 – September 2oth, November 1st, and December 13th respectively.
