Inflation rose largely with expectations in July according to the Consumer Price Index report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The Consumer Price Index showed that inflation increased by 0.2 percent in the past month and in the past 12 months, it increased by 2.7 percent. But core CPI, which measures inflation all items except for food and energy, rose by 0.3 percent and by 3.1 percent.
The number comes as President Donald Trump’s tariffs begin to take effect, though on Monday, he announced another 90-day pause on tariffs against China as negotiations continue.
Last week, most of the president’s tariffs took effect after Trump paused them in April after the stock market tumbled and the Treasury bond market spiked. The number for July represents the final month before Americans would begin to see prices spike for everything from Irish Whiskey to Toyotas made in Japan to Brazilian coffee.
While the index for food did not change at all while the index for energy dropped by 1.1 percent last month, with the index for gasoline dropping 2.2 percent.
But an increase in the shelter index by 0.2 percent offset those drops. The index for rent rose by 0.3 percent, as did the index for owners’ equivalent of rent.
The July CPI report is also the first report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics since Trump fired the chief labor statistician after a poor jobs report that showed the economy added only 73,000 jobs in July and significantly revised down the number of jobs added in May and June.
On Monday, Trump announced that he had nominated economist D.J. Antoni, the chief economist at the conservative Heritage Foundation, to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Antoni served as a contributor to the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 roadmap that the Trump administration has largely followed to guide his second presidency.
