Summer is shaping up to be bleak for the US consumer.

With many Americans worried about prices, it’s worth looking at whether workers’ wages have been rising quickly enough to keep up. Like a lot of things in economics, however, there’s not one definitive answer.

Federal Reserve official say they believe the institution needs to tighten monetary policy if inflation continues to run above its target rate, according to minutes from last month’s meeting. “A majority of participants highlighted,

U.S. wage growth is lagging inflation for the first time since 2023, eroding consumers' purchasing power.

Federal Reserve officials’ concerns about inflation being stoked by the Iran war intensified last month, with a growing number of them saying the central bank should lay the groundwork for a possible rate hike, a sign that incoming Chair Kevin Warsh will inherit an increasingly hawkish crew of central bankers.

Value stocks tend to outperform in periods when inflation is rising, Ned Davis Research wrote in a client note.

With near-term growth projections relatively high and prices rising, a "running hot" economic outlook is making cyclical value stocks look more attractive.

The Bank of Mexico, which has a 3% inflation target, lowered its benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point on May 7 to 6.5%, saying the cut marked the end of the monetary easing cycle begun in 2024. Minutes of the meeting published on Thursday suggested the central bank is likely to remain on hold for the foreseeable future.

By Leika Kihara TOKYO, May 22 (Reuters) - Japan's core consumer prices rose 1.4% in April from a year earlier, data showed on Friday, marking the slowest annual pace in four years due largely to the effect of government subsidies on school tuition.

Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said Friday the central bank should remove its easing bias from policy statements, though he stopped short of advocating for an interest rate increase at this time.