Posted on 01/14/2026 8:10:35 AM PST by Twotone
Progress in the fight to throttle back inflation appeared to stall in December amid price pressures from groceries, dining out, utility gas, clothing and other categories of consumer spending.
The consumer price index, a key inflation gauge, rose 2.7% in December from 12 months earlier, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Tuesday. That was unchanged from the previous month and in line with estimates.
“The bottom line is, I think inflation is still uncomfortably high,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s. “Inflation for staples, necessities, remains elevated.”
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
Dear FRiends,
We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. No spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers.
If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today:
Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you,
Jim
And... In a month or two, it will be “revised” downward.
Regular gasoline near me is down to $2.48 per/gal. Eggs at Costco are 2 dozen for $3.79. Bought loin of pork for $.99 per/lb. Gallon whole milk is now $3.79
Meanwhile, silver’s pushing 92 today.
Anyone panicking about inflation <3% has lost historical context.
| Category | YoY % |
|---|---|
| All items | 2.7% |
| Food at home | 2.4% |
| Cereals + bakery products | 1.5% |
| Meats, poultry, fish + eggs | 3.9% |
| Dairy | -0.9% |
| Fruits + vegetables | 0.5% |
| Nonalcoholic beverages + materials | 5.1% |
| Other food at home | 2.7% |
| Food away from home | 4.1% |
| Energy | 2.3% |
| Gasoline (all types) | -3.4% |
| Electricity | 6.7% |
| Piped gas service | 10.8% |
| All items less food and energy | 2.6% |
| Apparel | 0.6% |
| New vehicles | 0.3% |
| Used cars + trucks | 1.6% |
| Medical care commodities | 1.5% |
| Rent of primary residence | 2.9% |
| Medical care services | 3.5% |
| Motor vehicle maintenance + repair | 5.4% |
| Motor vehicle insurance | 2.8% |
| Airline fares | -3.4% |
| Alcoholic beverages | 2.1% |
| Tobacco + smoking products | 6.8% |
Price hikes dominated by eating at restaurants, beverages, electricity, piped gas service, medical care services, tobacco and motor vehicle maintenance and repair.
Inflation data LOWERED due to product categories dominated by items subject to tariffs: Apparel (up only 0.6%), New vehicles (up only 0.3%*), medical care commodities (up 1.5%*), alcoholic beverages (up 2.1%).
(* I recognize that the majority of products in these categories are made in the USA, but these are affected by tariffs more than average because components are frequently imported or made out of imported materials.)
Gasoline has gone down where I live, but that’s about it as far as lower prices. The stuff that was too high before is still too high as I see it. That’s really the bottom line regardless of what they say about inflation. As an an example at Walmart this morning (where they claim everyday low prices) two russet potatoes were $1.50. Sound like a bargain???
Interesting that CNBC prioritizes the bar chart over the last chart shown. The last one is probably more important to most of us. A 20% increase in items like eggs or dairy is less important than say a 5% increase in the price of a house. The percentage increase viewed against the total outlay is what is important. I don’t buy a new car (or house) every year.
Probably the most important to me is the rise in electricity.
I live in deep South Alabama. Air Conditioning is my single biggest electrical expense. I might go solar/battery just for my A/C.
Their dumb f$&k economist says tariffs are impacting inflation, but sites ZERO examples. A high school kid could go down the lust of things they are tracking and see few if any examples where tariffs would be raising prices.
Complete morons who hate Trump
Inflation is only addressed by the number of bills in circulation.
Prices, however, are totally controlled by supply/demand.
Cut demand and prices tank. 20M illegals. I am just sayin’.
In California they raised the minimum wage and a number of fast good joints had to close down.
later
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.