I. OTHERS1 Inflation is everywhere – where’s the Fed?Inflation is everywhere, from the factory floor to the warehouse gate, the supermarket register, and the kitchen table, as evidenced by a string of inflation reports confirming the rise of commodity prices across the board.
On Tuesday morning, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that the Producer Price Index (PPI) — a measure of inflation at the wholesale level — rose at an annual rate of 9.7% in January. The December number stood at a 13-year high.
The PPI number comes a few days after the BLS reported that the Consumer Price Index (CPI), a measure of inflation at the retail level, rose at an annual rate of 7.5% in January, up from 7% in the previous month. It was the highest inflation number since 1982 and ahead of market forecasts.
“We’re currently in this hypersensitive consumer environment where a large portion of the population has been going through a prolonged period of financial challenge, with 55% of U.S. consumers being financially constrained, according to NielsenIQ’s recent Consumer Outlook report,” said Carman Allison, vice president at NielsenIQ. “Additionally, in January 2022, consumers paid +9.7 percentage points more for CPG products, and we don’t foresee inflation settling any time soon. A diverse range of shoppers are looking to trim their grocery budgets amid inflationary pressures without compromi
