Inflation held steady in July as price declines for staples like groceries and gasoline helped offset price increases for consumers.
However, there were worrying signs under the surface, including evidence that Trump administration policies are stoking inflation for certain goods and services, economists said. Those effects will likely become more pronounced later this year, they said.
“Tariff and immigration policy fingerprints are all over the report,” Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s, said.
“The tariff and immigration effects aren’t screaming at us, but they’re certainly speaking very loudly and over the next couple months they’ll start yelling,” Zandi said.
The consumer price index rose 2.7% in July relative to a year earlier, unchanged from the prior month and less than expected, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday.
