A worrisome bout of inflation struck the economy in April, with U.S. consumer prices for goods and services surging 0.8%, the largest monthly jump in more than a decade, and the year-over-year increase reaching its fastest rate since 2008.
The acceleration in prices, which has been building for months, has unsettled financial markets and raised concerns that it could weaken the economic recovery from the pandemic recession.
Wednesday's report from the Labor Department showed sharply higher prices for everything from food and clothes to housing. A 10% surge in the prices of used cars and trucks — a record jump — accounted for roughly one-third of last month's increases. Prices for vehicles, both used and new, have been soaring as a result of a computer chip shortage that has slowed auto production and reduced dealer supplies.
Over the past 12 months, consumer prices have jumped 4.2% — the fastest rise since a 4.9% gain in the 12 months that ended in September 2008. Excluding volatile food and energy, core inflation rose 0.9% in April and 3% over the past 12 months.
After years of dormant inflation, with the Federal Reserve struggling to increase it, worries about rising prices have shot to the top of economic concerns. Shortages of goods and parts related to disrupted supply chains have been a key factor.
The Fed, led by Chair Jerome Powell, has repeatedly expressed its belief that inflation will prove temporary as supply bottlenecks are unclogged and parts and goods flow normally again. But some economists have expressed concern that as the economic recovery accelerates, fueled by rising demand from consumers spending freely again, so will inflation.
“It looks like inflation pressures are not only building but are likely to be here at least through the rest of the year,” said Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors. “With growth robust, firms have a measure of pricing power tat they haven't had in decades, and they appear to be using it.”
Investors, too, have grown increasingly jittery. On Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average sank more than 470 points — 1.4% — its worst day since Feb. 26.
Wednesday's inflation report showed that food prices rose 0.4%, the biggest such increase since a 0.5% rise last June. Energy costs, though, edged down 0.1%, with gasoline pump prices falling 1.4%, the biggest drop since May 2020.
Last month, Powell suggested at a news conference that Fed officials expect inflation to move above its 2% annual target over the next few months. The Fed has said it will allow prices to rise slightly above 2% for a period of time to make up for the past decade's shortfalls in inflation.
Powell has said that as long as the increase in inflation doesn't appear to be hurting consumer and business expectations about price increases, the central bank would be willing to let prices rise without acting to raise interest rates. That view has been supported by comments from other Fed officials including Lael Brainard, a board member who warned Tuesday against a premature Fed tightening that could harm the economy.
It's no secret tech giant Amazon has a mission of becoming a major player in sports media, and the company is poised to make progress on that goal in 2022. Amazon Prime Video will be the exclusive home to Thursday Night Football for the 2022-23 NFL season. In December, the New York Post reported that Amazon is in the beginning stages of developing studio sports programs, and hopes to soon have a full daily lineup of sports shows. Front Office Sports senior reporter A.J. Perez joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Digital mental health company Little Otter recently announced it closed a $22 million Series A round. Little Otter was founded in 2020 by a mother-daughter team, which based the company on the idea that a child's mental health can only be addressed by treating the whole family through technology available to everyone. Little Otter CEO and co-founder Rebecca Egger and her mother, Little Otter Chief Medical and Scientific Officer and co-founder Dr. Helen Egger joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Stocks closed lower Thursday with the tech-heavy Nasdaq in particular under pressure as investors dump tech stocks amid interest rate hike fears. This is the third session in a row that the Nasdaq has slipped. Meanwhile, rate-sensitive stocks gained one day after the Federal Reserve announced its more hawkish policy including three rate hikes this year. Kristina Hooper, Chief Global Market Strategist at Invesco, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss today's close, this week's Fed minutes and the central bank's new hawkish policy, and more.
Jared Watkin, senior vice president, diabetes care, at Abbott Laboratories, joined Michelle Castillo from the CES 2022 floor to discuss the future of health tech, including Abbott's consumer-facing biowearable called Lingo. The accessory is supposed to send real-time biomarker information like glucose or ketone levels to the Lingo app for the wearer to review. "The idea is that it's a window into your body," Watkin said. "It gives you insight into what's going on in your body and the certain circumstances that you otherwise wouldn't be able to have."
Aaron Jefferson, VP of product at Luminar, joined Cheddar to discuss partnering with automaker Volvo to bring its LIDAR (light detection and ranging) tech into autonomous cars capable of safely driving on the highway. While companies like Tesla have come under fire due to safety issues with its self-driving technology, Jefferson noted how his company's tech differs. "Our LIDAR, its iris sensor that's really set for production, is able to sense, understand, and give the vehicle confidence to react accordingly such that you don't have these same types of issues," he said. The Ride Pilot technology in Volvo vehicles will be rolled out in California following safety testing.
The fintech app backed by billionaire Mark Cuban called Dave made its public debut on the Nasdaq Thursday via a SPAC merger. CEO and co-founder Jason Wilk spoke to Cheddar's Kristen Scholer about the IPO and how his company's services distinguish it from traditional banks. "Customers come to us because they're tired of paying $20 billion of overdraft fees, and they come to Dave, they download our app, and within minutes they can get access to $250 of no interest credit, which we give them through our own proprietary machine learning model," he told Cheddar.
Stephanie Linnartz, president of Marriott International, joined Cheddar's "Closing Bell" to talk about the launch of the Marriott Design Lab, a new facility within its Bethesda, Maryland, headquarters to explore innovative tech offerings for bolstering the guest experience. "It's all around figuring out how we can innovate in the guest room in the public space, looking at how we can use robotics, improve sustainability, etcetera," she said. Some short-term changes in the future Linnartz also noted is an expansion of the chain's mobile capabilities to make check-in and check-out an easier process for guests, as well as mobile room service, from the feedback it received during the pandemic.
