U.S. President Joe Biden took a victory lap on Wednesday in the latest inflation report, which found that consumer prices did not rise above April levels in May, marking the first time since 2022 that U.S. monthly inflation remained flat.
“Prices remain too high, but today’s report shows welcome progress in lowering inflation,” Biden said in a statement.
Another piece of good news for consumers was that the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that annual inflation fell to 3.3% in May, down from 3.4% in April and 3.5% in March.
The numbers were also cooler than economists expected, with economists polled by Dow Jones predicting a 0.1% rise in prices and a 3.4% rise in annual inflation.
“Wages are rising faster than prices, and the unemployment rate has remained at or below 4% for the longest time in 50 years,” Biden said.
“I know many families are feeling the pressure of the cost of living, which is still too high,” he added.
On November 6, 2023, former US President Trump attended the Trump Organization civil fraud trial at the New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan, New York, USA. A combination of US President Joe Biden attending a meeting with the Prime Minister of Italy on March 1, 2024 Giorgia Meloni in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, USA, on Sunday.
Reuters
With five months until the November election, cooling inflation data is good news for Biden as he builds his reelection campaign on the argument that his administration has revived the economy from the chaos caused by the pandemic.
Last Friday, Biden was also pleased with a blockbuster jobs report, which showed that the U.S. economy added 272,000 jobs in May, much higher than the 190,000 jobs forecast by Dow Jones.
Biden also used Wednesday’s positive report to shift former President Donald Trump’s economic agenda.
“Republicans have taken a different approach, cutting taxes for the rich and big corporations, allowing special interests like Big Pharma and Big Oil to keep prices high, and ‘fueling’ inflation with sweeping tariffs,” Biden said in a statement. stated in the speech.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Biden’s claims that the former president’s economic plans will fuel inflation.
Trump has so far laid out an economic platform based on imposing tariffs on all imports, extending first-term tax cuts and pressuring the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates — all of which economists say could drive up inflation. .
“Joe Biden inherited a collapsing economy from Donald Trump,” said Biden campaign spokesman James Singer, adding that the president “is now leading America’s great comeback.”
The timing of Wednesday’s consumer price index release is also important. The Federal Open Market Committee, which sets interest rates, has been meeting for two days to discuss whether to lower rates.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will address the media later in the day. Analysts are increasingly unanimous that the Federal Reserve will keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged for now, but the likelihood of a rate cut in September is rising.
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