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In each Economic Update, the Research staff analyzes recently released economic indicators and addresses what these indicators mean for REALTORS® and their clients. Today’s update discusses consumer price index and consumer sentiment.
- Consumer prices rose 0.3 percent in March and have increased 2.7 percent in the last year according to data released today. Core prices, prices of goods except food and energy, rose 0.2 percent in March and 2.3 percent from one year ago.
- These monthly and year over year price increases are somewhat high, but not high enough to prompt the Fed to adjust its current monetary policy position of keeping interest rates low through late 2014. As for consumers, they may feel a pinch, particularly in paying for food and energy for which prices have risen 3.3 and 4.6 percent respectively in the last year.
- Separately, the University of Michigan released preliminary Consumer Sentiment data for April that suggests that consumers may be feeling the pinch. Consumers lowered their assessment of current conditions slightly which brought down the sentiment index slightly, by less than one percent. Notably, consumers raised their expectations for the future, moving the index for expectations up by 3.9 percent.
- The final consumer sentiment index measure will be released toward the end of the month.
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