Business & Economy

On The Money — Inflation hits highest rate since February 1982

Happy Thursday and welcome to On The Money, your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line. Subscribe here: digital-release.thehill.com/newsletter-signup.  

Today’s Big Deal: Consumer prices keep rising — and we’ve got new data to show it. We’ll also look at another drop in jobless claims and the hurdles ahead for a congressional stock trading ban.  

But first, Tom Brady may soon be honored by Congress.  

For The Hill, we’re Sylvan Lane, Aris Folley and Karl Evers-Hillstrom. Reach us at slane@digital-release.thehill.com or @SylvanLane, afolley@digital-release.thehill.com or @ArisFolley and kevers@digital-release.thehill.com or @KarlMEvers.  

Let’s get to it. 

 

Annual inflation reaches 7.5 percent

Consumer prices rose 7.5 percent annually by the end of January, according to data released Thursday by the Labor Department, the fastest rate since February 1982. 

The Labor Department’s consumer price index (CPI), which tracks inflation, rose on an annual basis for the sixth consecutive month and above the 7.2 percent increase projected by a consensus of economists. 

Consumer prices also rose 0.6 percent in January, the same rate as in December, after falling for three consecutive months.  

The background:  

What’s next:   

Sylvan has more here. 

 

HIGHER PRICES

Here’s where prices rose and fell the most over last year  

The price of gas, cars and food skyrocketed over the last year, while other products and services saw smaller increases and a handful of goods dropped in price. 

Here’s a look at where prices have gone the most over the last year, according to the Labor Department’s latest report: 

Smartphones were one of the few products that decreased in price, seeing a 13.3 percent reduction.  

The Hill’s Mychael Schnell recaps the price hikes here. 

UNEMPLOYMENT CLAIMS DROP

Unemployment claims drop for third straight week  

New applications for jobless aid declined by 16,000 last week, dropping for the third consecutive week, according to figures released by the Labor Department on Thursday.  

For the week ending Feb. 5, seasonally adjusted initial claims reached 223,000, the data found. The four-week moving average was 253,250 last week, 2,000 less than the revised average from the previous week. 

The Labor Department also recorded 6 million Americans in January who reported being unable to work last month due to a pandemic-related closure or lost business. The figure is nearly twice the level of 3.1 million the agency recorded in December.  

Aris has more here. 

UNSURE SENATORS

Stock trading ban gains steam but splits Senate GOP 

Proposals to ban members of Congress from trading individual stocks are gaining major momentum in the House, but some Republicans in the Senate are raising early red flags, arguing that some of the leading proposals go too far or would be too difficult to implement.    

Senate Republicans are also voicing concerns that restricting stock ownership will put the most burden on colleagues with less money and could dissuade otherwise well-qualified candidates from running for office. 

Those comments come after Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who has come under scrutiny over her husband’s stock trades, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), backed a congressional stock trading ban, giving the push increased momentum.   

Alexander Bolton has more on the GOP fissure here. 

 

Good to Know

President Biden called on the Senate to pass his currently-stalled Build Back Better legislation, touting that it would lower prescription drug prices, a popular issue ahead of the midterm elections. 

Biden traveled to the Virginia district of vulnerable Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger, saying that drug prices are “outrageously expensive” and calling for action. He also sought to address inflation concerns by arguing his package would “bring down the cost for average families,” and also noted it would “not increase the debt,” a concern of Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.Va.).  

Here’s what else we have our eye on: 

 

That’s it for today. Thanks for reading and check out The Hill’s Finance page for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you tomorrow.