The unexpected surge in February’s inflation was primarily fueled by two factors: housing and gas.
Housing costs increased by 5.7% annually and 0.4% monthly, a slight slowdown from January’s 6% annual rise and 0.6% monthly increase.
Economists attribute the higher core inflation to the persistent rise in housing costs.
The rent and owners’ equivalent rent (OER) indexes both saw a 0.5% and 0.4% monthly increase, respectively. OER represents the hypothetical rent a homeowner would pay for the same property. In January, rent rose by 0.4% while OER increased by 0.6%.
Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management, emphasized that “while core services inflation remained high, the crucial core services excluding housing weakened compared to last month, while housing inflation slightly decreased.”
Shah noted that the disinflationary trend is a positive sign but cautioned that price pressures will diminish “very gradually.”
“This report is just…
2024-03-12 12:33:52
Article from finance.yahoo.com