Just hours before the release of the Federal Reserve’s latest rate decision, fresh inflation data showed that price increases slowed notably in May.
The new report is a sign that inflation is cooling again after proving sticky early in 2024, and it could help to inform Fed officials as they set out a future path for interest rates. Policymakers had embraced a rapid slowdown in price increases in 2023, but have turned more cautious after inflation progress stalled early this year. The latest data could help to restore their conviction that inflation is in the process of returning to the central bank’s goal.
Here’s what to know:
Overall inflation cooled: The Consumer Price Index for May was up 3.3 percent from a year earlier, lower than the 3.4 percent economists had forecast and down from the April reading.
