#inflation

#inflation

First, she said that $2 million isn't nearly enough to retire early on. She then went on to say that it might take a good $5 to $10 million to retire early without financial worries. Yep, you read that correctly. Are you shocked? Well, maybe you shouldn't be. In the past few years, we've seen inflation drive living costs up dramatically. And it's hard to predict how much havoc inflation will continue to wreak.

Markets were closed on Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, compressing the week's activity into four sessions. Early in the week, stocks fell sharply after renewed concerns about a potential global trade conflict. Investor sentiment weakened following comments from President Donald Trump about imposing tariffs on certain European nations in connection with negotiations over Greenland. However, midweek optimism returned when the president signalled a softer stance and postponed the planned tariffs.

Trump opened the briefing with a lengthy, rambling weave that included attacking Don Lemon, raging about migrants, riffing on the killing of Renee Good, and narrowly escaping the clutches of a nasty binder clip. He spoke for almost an hour-and-a-half before finally taking questions. The presser encompassed several editions of CNN News Central, during which anchors tossed to Dale no less than three times as he racked up a tally of over 17 falsehoods:

A 72-count box of store-brand K-Cups is almost $30. A 64-ounce bottle of coffee creamer is almost $8. A 4-pound bag of sugar (shrinkflation; it used to be 5 pounds) is almost $10. These aren't luxuries.

Nathan's Famous, which opened as a 5-cent hot dog stand in Coney Island more than a century ago, has been sold to packaged meat giant Smithfield Foods in an all-cash $450 million deal, the companies announced Wednesday. Smithfield, which has held rights to produce and sell Nathan's products in the U.S. and Canada and at Sam's Clubs in Mexico since 2014, will acquire all of Nathan's outstanding shares for $102 each.

Certain folks would like to tell you that inflation is cured. And in some ways, if you track inflation by the Consumer Price Index, there is some truth to the thesis that the cost of living has returned to its normal, modestly upward path. Ponder a California inflation index from my trusty spreadsheet, which averaged four decades' worth of annual changes in regional price indexes for Los Angeles-Orange County, San Diego and San Francisco.

The US dollar remained in a consolidation phase on Thursday, holding close to multi-week highs. Inflation data released on Wednesday painted a broadly stable picture. Producer prices increased moderately on the month. Taken together with earlier CPI data, inflation trends appear neither re-accelerating nor cooling decisively. Retail sales provided a contrasting signal, rebounding strongly in November. Improved consumer spending, suggesting household demand remains relatively healthy, limiting immediate downside risks to growth.

Following a slightly lower than predicted rise in the Consumer Price Index yesterday, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday that the Producer Price Index likewise rose less than expected in December. By this measure, the annual inflation rate in December was 3%, and core inflation (which doesn't count food and energy prices) rose at a 3.5%. Both these numbers were higher than the rises in the CPI, however. Month-on-month, the PPI rose 0.2%, less than the predicted 0.3%.

As prices climb, shoppers aren't just spending less-they're spending differently. Nearly half are buying smaller quantities or trading down to lower-cost options, such as canned fruit instead of fresh, according to Capgemini's report, "What matters to today's consumers 2026." It's not about cutting things out entirely-it's about making budgets stretch. Low- and middle-income households are especially deal-focused right now: more coupons, more frequent but smaller trips, and fewer meals out.