1. The July inflation report was benign and roughly in line with expectations.

• Here is a breakdown of year-over-year inflation by component.

• Gasoline prices fell for a second month, although this relief might see a reversal in the August report.

– Food inflation eased.

Ground beef prices fell slightly but stayed above $7 per pound for the fourth consecutive month.

• Core goods inflation rebounded. However, that could be attributed to a pull-forward in promotional sales that depressed prices in June.

– The figure was also exaggerated by <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/25/apple-macbook-ipad-price-hike-memory.html" target="_blank">one-off price increases</a> in computers and peripherals.

– Software, which has a low weighting in CPI but a much larger weighting in core PCE, eased on a month-over-month basis.

– Core services inflation rose but was softer than expected.

Medical care services (firm):

Wireless telephone services (rebounded):

Airline fares (strong):

Hotels and motels (slumped, reflecting continued reversal of the boost from the World Cup):

Auto insurance (fell for a third month):

– Shelter inflation accelerated but was below its pre-pandemic average.

• Here’s a look at trends in supercore inflation, …

… along with trimmed mean and median inflation rates.