Apparantly it's a little cheaper working in your kitchen than driving to work these days. Here are the details from the AP.
Inflation at the wholesale level edged up by the smallest amount in five months in July as falling food prices helped offset another rise in energy costs.
I don't know about you, but I'll take whatever I can get.
Here are some numbers to crunch.
The Labor Department reported that wholesale prices increased a slight 0.1 percent in July, far below the 0.5 percent jump in June. The improvement reflected a retreat in food prices, which fell by 0.3 percent in July, after having surged by 1.4 percent in June, which had been the biggest increase in nearly two years.
And some more.
Excluding volatile food and energy, core wholesale inflation fell by 0.3 percent in July. That was the best showing for core inflation in nine months, since a similar 0.3 percent decline last October.
But, the Fed not raising interest rates again has helped more than a little.
Federal Reserve policy-makers broke a two-year string of interest rate increases last week, saying they believed that a slowing economy would help restrain inflation pressures. But some private economists are worried that the relentless rise in energy costs could force the Fed to resume rate increases in coming months.
But the best news may be about inflation.
The 0.1 percent rise in the government’s Producer Price Index represented the smallest amount of inflation since wholesale prices actually fell by 1.2 percent in February.
But, don't get complacent. I'm sure the economic roller coaster has some more twists and turns for us just around the corner.
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