“The progress on inflation since June 2022 has been remarkable,” said David Kelly, chief global strategist at J.P. Morgan Asset Management. Many Americans remain frustrated after experiencing elevated inflation over the past four years, but they are seeing some relief . They use a separate inflation gauge, the personal-consumption-expenditures price index, to determine whether they are achieving their 2% inflation goal. While he indicated the central bank still has “a ways to go to get inflation back” to the target, he called out “significant progress” bringing down inflation for labor-intensive services, which many economists think will be the most difficult part of the Fed’s inflation fight. Meanwhile, consumer spending has held up well, as easing inflation and strong wage growth boosted purchasing power.

Source: Wall Street Journal January 12, 2024 14:53 UTC