Consumer Prices Actually Hit the Fed’s Inflation Target

Again, just on Friday that the Producer Price Index in May showed a worry of deflation. The caveat is that the energy prices likely are mitigating that trend.

Keep in mind that the CPI rose in April, with higher energy costs making for a 0.3% gain after rising 0.2% in March. The ex-food and energy core CPI was up 0.2% in April and 0.2% in March.

Tuesday’s Labor Department report was the highest CPI reading in more than a year. In fact, overall prices from a year ago were up by 2.1% — getting ever more in line with the FOMC 2% inflation target. Even the core-CPI was up 2% if you compare it to May of 2013.

This marks an interesting period as the FOMC meeting kicks off Tuesday, and we will get an announcement on rates on Wednesday afternoon. We have previewed what to expect from Janet Yellen and Team Fed.

Futures are holding on to gains on Tuesday, but a tad lower than earlier in the morning. S&P futures were up only by 0.25 and DJIA futures were up only 10 points.

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