for the consumer price index is now at the lowest level since november of last year. it s still way above the federal reserves will publicize target rate for that healthy level of inflation. it says it s around 2%. that pretty much sums up the kind of conflicting headlines that we ve got. that tug-of-war so disapproving the numbers. it s still very much about crosscurrents on inflation. gasoline prices, other fuel costs. have fallen sharply. they ve taken some of the upper momentum out of this price hikes. and inflation. used car prices, medical costs, fell from the previous month. other costs remain stubbornly high. food costs, are still up about have abortion from last month. over 10% from last year. housing cost, shelter costs through six tenths of a percent month over month. there are 7% higher over the last year. that s important. because it s the shelter costs of a corona third of this calculation for the consumer price index. one important and positive here, andrea, is wage grow
chain disruptions, but where the bankers are focused, they are meeting for the next two days, and that has been harder in terms of prices starting to moderate and come down. housing, shelter costs, which is a big part of cpi registered and increased in this report, and we are seeing rent prices start to come off. the one good thing i would say for workers, you saw wage gains fall short of the pace of inflation, and what is good for workers may not be so good from a policy maker standpoint, and central bankers are going to be focused on that now. i know you say that, and that stands true, and from the wage workers, they are thinking it s good for me and i don t know how
does this data back that up? well, it looks like inflation may have peaked and to clarify, going down doesn t mean that prices go down, it means that price growth slows. the rate of price increases slow. remember calculus from a long time ago. it s about the derivative. it means nose things are not getting cheaper. prices aren t going up as quickly as they had been and there had been signs this this or that we re not in this report but from other data that indicated that the report may even understate how much better things have gotten, for example, the report today showed that rent costs, shelter costs are going up. if you look at some private sector data that looks at new rents being offered, those rents seem to be falling, so it does seem like there is good news on the horizon. so let s stick there for a moment, matt, and tomorrow shelter costs up 7.1%. gas up 10%. food up 10.6%. if you re an average american,
another brutal reality check today for americans being crushed by sky high prices. they are still rising, and it is happening at a rate not seen in 40 years. inflation shut up 9.1% from last year, higher-than- expected, and overall, energy prices are up more than 41% since last year. gas up almost 60% since last year. food up more than 10%. the cost of housing nearly 6%. june saw the largest monthly increase in shelter costs since april 1986. the report drops just as president biden begins his tour of the middle east, hoping saudi arabia will pump more oil and help ease u.s. gas prices. joining me now is our correspondent and the former chair of the white house council of economic advisers. start with big picture.