As WPI reported last week, inflation – particularly food inflation – has been ensconced in the 2024 election campaign. The USDA released its food inflation series today, showing a trend through the end of last year that mirrors what BLS data on the CPI showed for July. Retail food inflation for food at home has slowed at 1.1 percent, while food service/food away from home inflation is still hot at 4.1 percent. Averaged out, total food inflation is at 2.2 percent.
For food away from home, full service food was up 3.8 percent and limited service food was up 4.3 percent, showing some signs of consumers economizing as they return to food away from home purchases. In the bigger picture, relative to monetary policy, July&rsq...
What You Need to Know Today: The hot, dry weather forecast continues to drive strength in grain futures with corn and soybeans hitting another day of strong gains. Monday’s Crop Progress and Conditions data were in line with market expectations and showed relatively few concerns for the...
Yesterday we wrote about the Q1 GDP numbers and the June employment reports in an article entitled Real GDP for Q1 Relying on AI Buildout, Held Back by Consumer Spending. That article mentioned that consumer spending had become a drag on GDP. Nonetheless, real GDP in Q1 was revised upward to 2...
Key Takeaways: The Middle East and North Africa's arid climate and limited water resources have created a structural dependence on imported wheat. Government wheat tenders in major importing countries serve as important benchmarks for global trade, providing insight into exporter competitivene...
