US CPI: Inflation for March Cools More Than Expected to 2.4%. Egg Inflation Hits 60%

Consumer price index for March painted an optimistic picture for inflation, contrary to Trump’s tariff jitters.

🧐 March Inflation Cools Down

• The consumer price index USCPI for March came in at 2.4% year-over-year, cooling more than the 2.8% clip economists expected, and also below the 2.8% logged in February. Simply put, it offered a rare moment of optimism in an economy juggling hot rhetoric and hotter tariffs.
• It was a dip in energy prices, which boosted the actual headline figure. What everyone’s looking for: egg inflation ticked up with the valuable omelette-related item adding another 5.9% month on month, coming up to a whopping 60% from a year ago.

🤔 Traders at Ease, Mostly

• Excluding eggs, the CPI print was a breath of fresh air to traders who were expecting gloom and doom thanks to Trump’s tariff narrative and a potentially defensive reaction from business owners who could’ve opted to hike prices preemptively.
• Another added bonus is that the Federal Reserve gets one more month of inflation cooldown. Not that it doesn’t have enough trouble dealing with Trump’s tariff-on-tariff-off play, but at least it can now factor in softening price pressures next time it decides on interest rates.

👀 Markets Are a Mixed Bag

• Reactions across the board: the US dollar sold off as lowering price pressures suggest that the Fed might be more comfortable in cutting borrowing costs, even as tariff threats continue to loom large over the outlook.
• Gold prices extended their rise from the past day and threatened to eclipse the existing record high of $3,167 per ounce. The yellow metal popped about 1.4% after the inflation news and was floating around $3,125.
• Bitcoin dipped a little, moving from a session high of $82,700 to $81,500 per token. US stock futures were negative even before the news as investors felt what happened yesterday may have been a little too much.