The price gains that have bedeviled U.S. consumers for the last three years stubbornly refuse to return to Goldilocks territory.
The January Consumer Price Index (CPI) showed that the annual rate of inflation in the U.S. was 3.0%, slightly above the 2.9% December 2024 figure. That means price gains are hotter now than they were last fall, when September inflation stood at the almost normal rate of 2.4%, the lowest since the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted the economy.
