With both markets and the Fed concerned about broad inflation, the average American consumer may also care about what has gotten cheaper or deflated. On Tuesday, January’s consumer price index report depicted how the aggregate of prices grew hotter than expected, but there remained a few goods and services that experienced notable decreases. On an annual basis, there were a variety of consumer categories that experienced price falls quite dramatically, resulting in deflation rather than inflation. For the food at home category, the leader of decreases with eggs, with its prices falling in January by 28.6% year over year. Next was lettuce and apples near double-digit declines, with seafood, milk, and cheese occupying lower spots on the deflation ranking.
Throughout January’s CPI report, one championed decrease in headline inflation was energy. For the month, gas services fell by 17.8% annually, with fuel oil and gasoline plummeting 14.2% and 6.9%, respectively. For items that are not food and energy-related, the single largest decrease in January was health insurance, dropping 23.3% year over year. Near or above double-digit decreases were also car rentals, laundry equipment, TVs, girl’s apparel, and computer software. Other big-ticket purchases such as airline tickets, furniture, and computers found their way onto the list as well. Several experts have made remarks that the pandemic-induced high inflation the nation saw has been entering far normal stages, and several goods have continued to show signs of improvement. With problems solved across supply chains and demand, several believe we are slowly approaching the pre-pandemic era.