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.
After a week of headlines that ranged from a potential criminal investigation by the Justice Department to a 20 for 1 stock split, Michael Pachter, the managing director of equity research at Wedbush Securities, joined Cheddar News to shake out what wild week means for the tech giant and what he thinks is behind possible government antipathy towards the company. "If you look at Amazon, Capitol Hill hates them," he said. "And maybe it's just because Bezos looks like Dr. Evil, but I think part of it is that a lot of constituents of these legislators just don't whine at Congress, 'leave my company alone,' the way they do with Disney or Microsoft."
The ongoing semiconductor chip shortage has been impacting everything from the purchase of cars to smartphones. Deputy Commerce Secretary Don Graves spoke with Cheddar about the Biden administration's efforts to combat the issue and if the current crisis in Ukraine will have any impact on the global supply chain problems for semiconductors. "We're working very closely with all of our partners and allies around the globe, just as we have on the export controls and sanctions that we've applied to Russia to deal with that needless aggression," he said. "We're also working with them on the challenges of raw materials for a range of industries, including the semiconductor industry. We believe that we are going to be able to meet the demand for the for the near term."
From Wall Street to Silicon Valley, these are the top stories that moved markets and had investors, business leaders, and entrepreneurs talking this week on Cheddar.
Deputy Commerce Secretary Don Graves spoke to Cheddar's Alex Vuocolo about the ongoing semiconductor shortages and the push from the Biden administration to cover the supply chain problem as well as look ahead to future-proofing it.
With real estate being a largely male-dominated industry, Stephanie Shojaee, vice president and chief marketing officer at development company Shoma Group, joined Cheddar News to discuss how she took on the gender gap for women to achieve leadership roles, starting at her own company. “It's been very important to teach all the women that work here, especially the younger ones, that they shouldn't change themselves," she said. "You need to be happy with who you are and just keep breaking barriers."
DocuSign saw high growth levels due to high demand in going paperless during the pandemic, but the e-signature company also posted lower guidance going forward. CEO Dan Springer joined Cheddar News to discuss the revenue. "The challenge for our business was more that we got used to that very high level of demand during COVID, where we were a beneficiary of people needing to move so much faster, to drive, to accelerate their transformation," he said. "And now as we come off that acceleration, we didn't move quickly enough, we didn't adjust our business back to the mode we had pre-pandemic."
President Joe Biden announced Friday that along with the European Union and the Group of Seven countries, the U.S. will revoke “most favored nation” trade status for Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
