The United States’ first inflation data has been released since Donald Trump took over the Oval Office. In the first month of 2025, the inflation rate in the United States rose to 3 per cent.
US Inflation Rises
The rate of inflation measured by the Consumer Price Index or CPI increased from the previous month, December’s 2.9 per cent.
This rate is also higher than the inflation rate expected by analysts. This development comes right at the back of the Jerome Powell-led US Federal Reserve’s decision to hold to the current interest rate of the central banking system of the largest economy in the world at 4.25 per cent-4.5 per cent.
Trump Blames Biden
One of the reasons why the central bank decided to retain the benchmark rates was its concerns over the inflation rate and uncertainty over the direction that the US economy may follow.
The US President Donald Trump, who rode to power on the back of day-to-day issues like the price of food and gas, and who promised to bring inflation, and thereby prices of commodities down, has reacted to the new development.
In a post on his own social media website, Truth Social, Trump reacted to the development in the most Trumpian fashion. In his post, he said, “BIDEN INFLATION UP!”
An hour before that, Trump, without any context also reiterated his chant, “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”
Through this post on Truth Social, Trump passed the buck onto his predecessor and the 46th US president, Joseph Biden. Biden’s presidency was affected by inflation and stagflation issues that resulted in his party’s decline.
How did the US markets React?
The United States markets naturally closed in red, responding to this underwhelming piece of information on the state of the economy.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, closed at 44,368.56, with an overall decline of 225.09 points or 0.50 per cent.
The S&P 500 also declined, closing with cuts on Wednesday. The index closed with losses amounting to 16.53 points or 0.27 per cent, taking the overall value of the index to 6,051.97.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq had a relatively better day than the other indices. However, the index closed with just about marginal gains. The Nasdaq index closed with an increase of 0.031 per cent or 6.10 points, rising to 19,649.95.
