Last month’s relatively docile CPI numbers look set to finally allow the Fed to enjoy some holiday cheer. Annualized US inflation dropped to 7.1% amid somewhat lower energy costs. The war in Ukraine is still on, and yet, prices at the pump are down, and house prices are falling under the weight of higher mortgage rates. So, are we all good?
Maybe not so fast. The Employment Cost Index is now at 5% annualized and the Atlanta Fed’s wages tracker shows a 6.5% hourly labor cost increase. Press surrounding workforce dropouts, unionization drives, and stubbornly low unemployment suggest rising wage-demands are still a problem.
Read more on Forbes here.