Read the highlights of this week’s commentary from Helios:
Inflation came in softer than expected, with monthly prices staying flat in July though still rose 8.5% over the last year, down from a 9.1% annual increase in June. Falling energy prices fueled much of the yearly slowdown, though it was helped by a leveling out of food, services, and non-energy commodities prices.
The recent declines in core inflation, which excludes food and energy, halted, with annual prices increasing at 5.9%, the same as the June report. However, on the monthly basis, core inflation did slow down, rising 0.3% in July, versus 0.7% in June.
In August, consumer sentiment continued to climb from its historic lows a few months ago, rising to 55.1 in the University of Michigan’s preliminary survey, up from 51.5 in July and 50.0 in June. The gain happened despite longer-term inflation expectations creeping up, which have been significantly weighing on sentiment recently.
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