Surging inflation has eased in recent months, but more evidence is needed to show that price increases are coming down in the long term, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday. (Photo by Yuki IWAMURA / AFP) (Photo by YUKI IWAMURA/AFP via Getty Images)
Prices rose half a percent in January, according to the latest consumer price index. That is up from a 0.1 percent decline in December, and five times the 0.1 percent increase in November.
The monthly uptick was in line with expectation, though the year-over-year rate came in higher than expected 6.4 percent, a marginal drop from a 6.5 percent rate in December.
Shelter (i.e. housing) contributed the largest share to the monthly increase, rising 0.7 percent.
Energy costs were also up across the board. The price of piped gas shot up 6.7 percent, while energy overall was up 2 percent after two straight months of declines.
Food prices, meanwhile, were up 0.5 percent. That is up from 0.4 percent in December, but still low relative to the last six months.
Used car prices also continued their steady decline, dropping 1.7 percent month-over-month and 11.6 percent year-over-year.
Despite the month-over-month drop, the annual rate has slowed for seven straight months.
Tony Horton, fitness guru and creator of the famous P90X workout joins Cheddar News to discuss how people can stay focused and maintain fitness in the new year.
Meet Corrine Tan, American Girl’s 2022 Girl of the Year. Corrine is the first doll of Chinese descent from the company, debuting in response to a rise in hate crimes against the Asian American community. Jamie Cygielman, president and general manager of American Girl, spoke to Cheddar about the long development of the character. "As the pandemic began we started to see a lot of anti-Asian sentiment across the country," she said. "We sort of blended all of these stories together to create Corinne, an outline for Corinne, and then partnered with the wonderful author Wendy Shang to help tell that story to our fans." Cygielman also touched on linking up with AAPI Youth Rising, donating $25,000 for education efforts.
Janet Phan, founder of Thriving Elements and author of 'Boldly You,' joins Cheddar News to discuss the importance of being a mentor and how her organization is helping the next generation of STEM leaders.
Jobs website Glassdoor has released its annual Best Places to Work list with Nvidia, HubSpot, and Bain & Company. While the tech sector holds 40 percent of the rankings, Facebook parent company Meta notably dropped 36 places from last year.
Domino's is planning ahead for surging food costs, anticipating an 8 to 10 percent rise due to inflation and labor shortages. The pizza chain will be changing promotions to offset the overhead, such as making some of its discounts online orders only.
A record 4.5 million Americans quit their jobs in November as people continue to take advantage of red hot job market. The resignation rate is now the highest in the two decades the government has kept records, with many people voluntarily leaving their current jobs for other opportunities. Harley Lippman, CEO of Genesis 10, discusses how why so many people are quitting their jobs right now, and how the tech sector is being impacted.
Michelle Krebs, Executive Analyst at Cox Automotive, discusses the factors that led to Toyotas sales growth and highlights the challenges automakers have shifting to all-electric fleets.
The December jobs report was a mixed bag, with the U.S. adding just 199,000 jobs, less than half of the 422,000 forecasted. But there were some bright spots - the unemployment rate fell to a pandemic-era low of 3.9% and wages increased better than expected to 4.7% year-over-year. Heather Boushey, member of President Biden's council of economic advisers, joined Cheddar to gives her reaction to the jobs report, as well as an update on the state of the Build Back Better bill.
Amy Landers, Director of the Intellectual Property Concentration at Drexel University, breaks down what the Google-Sonos lawsuit means for consumers and addresses concerns about big corporations monopolizing patents within specific industries.