(Daily360.com) Despite Democrat politicians and a large portion of the media insisting the economy is strong and inflation has leveled off or is going down, the latest numbers indicate the opposite to be true. The consumer price index spiked in March at a higher rate than was predicted. This marked the third straight month of rising costs for American consumers. Spikes in rent and gasoline prices now account for more than half of the average monthly expenses for Americans.
On average, prices rose 3.5% in March coming in above the projection of 3.4% made by data service companies including FactSet. For the prior month of February, inflation rose 3.2% which was an increase over January’s 3.1%. The Federal Reserve is expected to adjust plans it had been making regarding interest rates. With the consistent rise in inflation, the Fed cannot cut rates as analysts had been predicting would occur multiple times during 2024. Financial analysts say this is now a trend and cannot be explained away as a temporary circumstance or blip in the economy.
The inflation numbers caused a ripple effect in the stock market and home mortgage lending rates. The stock market dipped significantly and mortgage rates rose to their highest percentage in six months. As far as rate cuts from the Fed, the original optimistic projection was six to seven cuts this year, the Fed itself announced they were hoping for three but now all agree there may be no cuts in 2024.
Gas prices are up on average nearly 2%, clothing is up nearly 1%, auto insurance continues to climb as it’s up almost 3% from the prior month and a stunning 22% year over year. American drivers are now paying on average more than $2,500 per year for auto insurance which costs drivers more than $200 per month. Grocery costs have increased more than 2% year over year as well.
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