CPI Stubbornly Resists 2% Goal; Gold Brushes $5,180 

Inflation’s embers refused to cool in February, with the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers edging 0.3 percent higher after January’s 0.2 percent bump. Headline prices now stand 2.4 percent above year-ago levels, still north of the Federal Reserve’s vaunted 2 percent target. Core inflation, which strips out the volatile food and energy categories policymakers like to ignore, advanced 0.2 percent and is running even hotter at 2.5 percent. Against this backdrop, gold briefly touched an intraday record of $5,183 on Wednesday, a move that speaks volumes about lingering worries over the dollar’s purchasing power.

Source: BLS

Digging into the details offers little comfort to households. Shelter—the index’s heaviest weight— rose another 0.2 percent and is up 3.0 percent year-over-year, even as the rent component logged its smallest monthly gain since January 2021. Food costs climbed 0.4 percent, propelled by a 1.4 percent surge in fruits and vegetables and a 0.8 percent rise in “other food at home.” Energy prices, volatile or not, tacked on 0.6 percent for the month, thanks chiefly to gasoline’s 0.8 percent rise and a 3.1 percent spike in natural-gas service.

While a dramatic 42.1 percent annual plunge in egg prices helped cap grocery bills elsewhere, other necessities marched higher. Apparel jumped 1.3 percent, airline fares 1.4 percent, and medical care 0.5 percent. Even with gasoline still 5.6 percent cheaper than a year ago, the broader energy index sits 0.5 percent higher, undercutting hopes that cheaper fuel alone will tame overall inflation. The CPI-W, used for many cost-of-living adjustments, is up 2.2 percent year-over-year and now reads 319 —an unwelcome reality for retirees on fixed benefits.