Inflation, Retail Spending, & More

Week in Review: Aug. 12-16

The Olympics ended on Sunday, drastically reducing my couch hours and drastically increasing my work hours. That’s probably for the best—this week was loaded with economic data releases, including on inflation, small business and consumer optimism, retail spending, and more.

Monday

TSA Checkpoint Travel Numbers

Air travel continues to wind down coming out of the summer peak, according to TSA data, but that’s normal and travel volumes remain about 5% above 2023 levels.

Gas Prices & Diesel Prices

Gas prices fell again and, at an average of $3.53/gallon, are as low as they’ve been since March. Diesel prices fell and are now at the lowest level since January 2022.

Tuesday

Producer Price Index

This measure of inflation, which looks at the change in prices received by domestic producers, came in cooler than expected and is up just 2.2% over the past year. This matters less than Wednesday’s consumer price index but is another piece of good news on the inflation front.

NFIB Small Business Optimism Index

This measure of small business owner optimism increased to the highest level since February 2022, but it’s still pretty low by historical standards. Business owners continue to cite inflation as their top issue, but—I know this sounds pedantic—I assume they mean the price level (how much things cost) rather than inflation (how fast prices are rising).

Wednesday

Consumer Price Index (Inflation)