Inflation Comes In Hotter than Expected Despite High Interest Rates

📈Inflation ticked down in January year-over-year but nevertheless exceeded expectations as officials at the Federal Reserve continue to consider cutting interest rates from their 23-year high, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) release on Tuesday.

The consumer price index (CPI), a broad measure of the prices of everyday goods, increased 3.1% on an annual basis in January and 0.3% month-over-month, compared to 3.4% in December year-over-year, with expectations of 2.9% year-over-year, according to the BLS. Core CPI, which excludes the volatile categories of energy and food, remained high, rising 3.9% year-over-year in January, compared to 3.9% in December.

“While 📈Inflation is technically moving in the right direction, progress is much too slow and is being overestimated because the CPI is grossly understating many higher costs,” E.J. Antoni, a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Grover M. Hermann Center for the Federal Budget, told the 🏢Daily Caller News Foundation. “It doesn’t look like the disinflation trend will continue because the money supply is growing again and has been for months. The Fed is effectively injecting liquidity behind the scenes while it publicly advertises the reduction in its balance sheet.”

The Federal Reserve chose