Enflasyon Temmuz'da Hafif Soğudu, Fed Üzerindeki Baskıyı Hafifletti

Inflation Cooled Slightly in July, Easing Pressure on the Fed

Thu, August 13, 2026 at 1:25 AM GMT+3 2 min read

The consumer price index rose just 0.1% from June to July, contributing to a slight decrease in the 12-month inflation rate from 3.5% to 3.4%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday.

The core CPI rate, which ignores volatile food and fuel prices to provide a better sense of the underlying trend, rose 0.2% on a monthly basis and 2.5% on an annual basis.

A decrease in the cost of energy helped keep topline inflation in check, as gasoline prices dropped 2.9%. The cost of food at home fell, too, down 0.1% from month to month, pulled lower in part by a 16.4% decline in the price of lettuce as consumers avoided an outbreak of cyclospora lurking in crunchy green leaves.

Lettuce aside, the results were roughly in line with expectations, and likely provide some breathing room for the Federal Reserve as officials mull interest rate hikes amid persistently above-target inflation. The relatively soft monthly inflation reading, combined with last week's anemic jobs data, suggests that the Fed could sit tight on rates at its next meeting in September.

"Even though there's going to be another release before the September meeting, I think there's already enough here to take that September hike off the table," said State Street economist Simona Mocuta, per The Wall Street Journal.

Inflation persists: Although the July numbers help allay fears that inflation is headed higher again, for average Americans, inflation is still a serious problem, with prices remaining elevated and price increases outstripping wage gains for the past four months.

"This is why people are dipping into their savings and/or turning to credit," Navy Federal Credit Union Chief Economist Heather Long wrote on X. "Yes, consumption has looked pretty good lately. But can that continue? For middle-income and lower-income Americans, this is the key issue. There will likely be some belt-tightening ahead."

KPMG Chief Economist Diane Swonk said inflation just won't go away. "Sticky inflation is stuck … hot & sticky," she wrote on X. "Like Chicago in August."

There could be more of that sticky inflation in the pipeline. Gasoline prices climbed above $4 a gallon on average this week, driven higher by the ongoing war against Iran. Patrick De Haan, the head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said Wednesday that gas prices have risen above $4 for the third time this year, a new record, while prices have never been this high so late in the year. "[T]he national average has never been above $4/gal after Aug. 12 in any previous year – ever," he wrote on X.