Were Those Hot Inflation Numbers Just a Bad Dream?
The CPI has topped estimates for three straight months. Let’s hope hope Wednesday will end the rough patch.
Let's hope today's report is not as bad as the last three.
Photographer: Samuel Corum/BloombergWednesday’s inflation report is one to watch. After three months of surprisingly hot CPI data, even inflation optimists are worried that the ballyhooed disinflation of 2023 has sputtered in 2024. If inflation is stuck above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, their hopes of interest rate cuts this year may have been misplaced — and the coveted “soft landing” may not look like much of a landing at all.
Markets can live with a report in line with Wall Street forecasts. The median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg is for a 0.3% increase in core CPI for April from a month earlier. Yet another upside miss could cause some real consternation for bond investors.