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A person pumps gas at a Chevron gas station on Aug. 7, 2026 in Austin, Texas. <\/p>\n
Brandon Bell | Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Consumer prices rose in July<\/a> \u2014 a reversal of the pullback in June<\/a> \u2014 but showed inflation broadly moderating, even as energy remained sharply higher than a year ago.<\/p>\n The\u00a0consumer price index<\/a>, an inflation barometer, was up 3.4%<\/a> from 12 months earlier, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Wednesday.<\/p>\n That’s down slightly from 3.5% in June, which marked the first decline in the annual inflation rate since January, before the war between the U.S. and Iran erupted Feb. 28.<\/p>\n “I thought it was a very benign report, right down the strike zone,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s. Inflation<\/a> is “still high but moving in the right direction,” he said, “assuming the war in Iran fades to the background.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Energy prices increased 14.7% for the 12 months ending in July amid doubts that the U.S. and Iran could reach a broader resolution to the conflict<\/a>. <\/p>\n Prices for gasoline, which is refined from crude oil, and other fuels and energy products were also higher as a result. Gasoline prices were up 24.6% over the year while fuel oil rose 39.1%, according to the inflation data issued Wednesday. <\/p>\n Consumers paid a national average of $ 4.04 per gallon as of Wednesday, according to\u00a0AAA<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 up from about $3.14 a year ago.<\/p>\n Airline fares also rose 25.5% over the past 12 months, according to the CPI data.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Still, the oil shock didn’t put too much pressure on grocery prices, economists said, which have been a particular\u00a0pain point<\/a>\u00a0for most U.S. households.<\/p>\n Food prices increased 3% over the last year, according to the CPI data, with food at home prices up 2.7%.<\/p>\n “Food prices don’t seem to be too bad, but there’s a lot of mix in there,” said Brian Bethune, an economics professor at Boston College. “Meat is way up, chicken is slightly down, egg prices have finally come back down, and now we have a problem with lettuce,” he said. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n