Why does he keep doing this.
Annual inflation rose to a three-year-high of 4.2% in May, underscoring how elevated energy prices are rippling through the US economy, according to new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
How is this holding up:
“I firmly believe that nothing is more transient than a supply shock, and we can, we can look through that, because before the Iranian conflict began, core inflation was coming down,” Bessent told CNBC’s Joe Kernen from the sidelines of President Donald Trump’s summit with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping. “So I think core inflation will continue coming down.”
That hasn’t been the recent trend, however.
Separate readings this week showed that consumer prices jumped 0.6% in April — and still rose 0.4% even when focusing on core costs that exclude food and energy. Twelve-month inflation stood at 3.8% for inflation and 2.8% for core.
Similarly, wholesale prices, a better indication of pipeline pressures, soared 1.4%, putting the 12-month level at 6%, the highest since late 2022. The inflation shock showed up in import and export prices as well, which also posted their highest levels in about four years.
That was from March.