US inflation cools further in welcome sign for economy

What happened

The Consumer Price Index fell by 0.1% between May and June, the first month-on-month decline in four years. The drop in consumer prices, reported by the Labor Department on Thursday, puts the 12-month rate at 3% rise, down from 3.3% in May. 

Who said what

The "pretty sharp slowing" of inflation rates is a "confidence booster for the Fed," Kevin Cummins, the chief U.S. economist for NatWest Markets, said to The Wall Street Journal. Perhaps the "most encouraging" news for consumers is that prices for household staples "haven't changed in about a year," Moody's Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi said to CNBC. The inflation slowdown is "bolstering the case for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates," Axios said.

What next?

Fed chair Jerome Powell wants "more evidence" that inflation is easing before lowering interest rates, Axios said. Powell told lawmakers this week that "more good data" would "strengthen our confidence that inflation is moving sustainably" toward the government target of 2%. 

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