Inflation stays tame in July, and any econ panic is now gone.

As it’s been for much of the last 18 months, inflation is still in check in America.

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 0.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis, after declining 0.1 percent in June, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 2.9 percent before seasonal adjustment.

The index for shelter rose 0.4 percent in July, accounting for nearly 90 percent of the monthly increase in the all items index. The energy index was unchanged over the month, after declining in the two preceding months. The index for food increased 0.2 percent in July, as it did in June. The food away from home index rose 0.2 percent over the month, and the food at home index increased 0.1 percent.

The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.2 percent in July, after rising 0.1 percent the preceding month. Indexes which increased in July include shelter, motor vehicle insurance, household furnishings and operations, education, recreation, and personal care. The indexes for used cars and trucks, medical care, airline fares, and apparel were among those that decreased over the month.

The all items index rose 2.9 percent for the 12 months ending July, the smallest 12-month increase since March 2021. The all items less food and energy index rose 3.2 percent over the last 12 months and was the smallest 12-month increase in that index since April 2021. The energy index increased 1.1 percent for the 12 months ending July. The food index increased 2.2 percent over the last year.

JUST IN: A great inflation report. In July, annual inflation cooled to 2.9% — the first time it’s been below 3% since early 2021.

Falling car prices and flat energy costs helped bring inflation down. The monthly increase was 0.2% (as expected)

It’s looking more and more like… pic.twitter.com/Guiz9HSOsf

— Heather Long (@byHeatherLong) August 14, 2024

The low increase in inflation also means that the tepid gain in average hourly wages still beat the CPI for July, allowing for a third straight month of higher real hourly wages.

We also got an indication this week that businesses aren’t being constrained by higher costs either, as the Producer Price Index had a mild increase of 0.1% for July. In addition, the PPI has only gone up by 0.3% in the last 3 months, and 2.2% over the last 12 months.

Oh, and remember all the panic less than 2 weeks ago after a subpar jobs report (that still showed we added jobs) and fears of a blowup in the tech sector caused a big selloff? The DOW Jones lost more than 2,100 points in 4 days at the time.

What's happened since then? No further panic or bad news in the sector, unemployment claims have stayed low, and the DOW has already regained more than 90% of what was lost in that decline.

The DOW is now back above 40,000, and while the Fed still bungled this by not cutting sooner (as shown by shelter prices staying high in no small part due to a lack of supply, as higher rates are discouraging the selling and construction of homes), we are also in a steady enough place that we don’t need an inter-meeting cut (which would have caused even more panic on Wall Street because it would indicate things were falling apart). But in all, we are in a good place, and unless the Fed decision-makers are completely in the bag from Trump, the only question is how big next month's rate cuts will be.

No wonder why Mitch McConnell’s dark money group is going to pollute our state’s airwaves with millions of ads that seem to say nothing beyond “SCARY DARK PEOPLE. BLAME TAMMY BALDWIN.” They really can’t counter much when it comes actual policy that Baldwin has supported, and can’t moan about inflation any more (especially since GOPs have no clue how to slow it down beyond screwing workers), except to complain about what happened 2 years ago. So racism and fearmongering for shut-ins it is!