Egg prices continue to soar by nearly 20%, new inflation data shows
(NEW YORK) — Slow and steady may win the race for a tortoise vs. a hare, according to Aesop’s Fables. However, in reality, this turn of phrase does not ring true when applied to the gradual climb of consumer prices, especially with the latest exorbitant cost increases on items like eggs.
Egg prices soar nearly 20% since last year
The latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed prices on some household staples rose slightly slower than the overall rate of inflation, but food prices once again spiked upwards in July by 2.2% compared to last year.
Despite a dip in prices for rice, flour, and fish, the cost of a carton of eggs has been steadily on the rise, with a 19% increase from July 2023.
Since June, the price of eggs shot up 5.5% month-over-month.
The consistent increases have been attributed to a combination of factors, largely including a supply-driven price spike as a result of avian flu outbreaks that have wreaked havoc on poultry farms nationwide.
Earlier this spring, with a resurgence of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in egg-laying flocks, the United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service reported that 13.64 million table egg-laying hens had been lost to the disease since the beginning of November.
(RALEIGH, N.C.) — When Vice President Kamala Harris unveils her economic policy proposals in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Friday, it will include a proposal to provide up to $25,000 in down payment support for first-time homebuyers, according to a campaign official.
The campaign is vowing that during its first term, the Harris-Walz administration would provide working families who have paid their rent on time for two years and are buying their first home up to $25,000 in down-payment assistance, with more generous support for first-generation homeowners.
In a preview statement obtained by ABC News, the campaign says, “Many Americans work hard at their jobs, save, and pay their rent on time month after month. But they can’t save enough after paying their rent and other bills to save for a down payment — denying them a shot at owning a home and building wealth. As the Harris-Walz plan starts to expand the supply of entry-level homes, they will, during their first term, provide working families who have paid their rent on time for two years and are buying their first home up to $25,000 in down-payment assistance, with more generous support for first-generation homeowners.”
“The Biden-Harris administration proposed providing $25,000 in downpayment assistance for 400,000 first-generation home buyers — or homebuyers whose parents don’t own a home — and a $10,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers. This plan will significantly simplify and expand the reach of down-payment assistance, allowing over 1 million first time-buyers per year – including first-generation home buyers – to get the funds they need to buy a house when they are ready to buy it,” the Harris campaign said.
Prior to Harris’ speech on Friday, an official also released more details on the housing component of Vice President Harris’ lower costs plan to “help end the housing supply shortage” that includes calling for the construction of 3 million new housing units and stopping Wall Street investors from buying homes in bulk.
Officials said she will propose a new $40 billion innovation fund — doubling that of the $20 billion Biden-Harris proposed innovation fund — that will be used for local governments to fund local solutions to build housing and support “innovative” methods of construction financing. It will also allow for certain federal lands to be eligible to be repurposed for new housing developments.
“Harris will work in partnership with workers and the private sector to build the housing the country needs, both to rent and to buy, and take down barriers that stand in the way of building new housing, including at the state and local level. This will make rents and mortgages cheaper,” according to the campaign.
Harris is also proposing two acts, the Preventing the Algorithmic Facilitation of Rental Housing Cartels Act and the Stop Predatory Investing Act to help bring down the cost of rent. These acts aim to take on “corporate and major landlords” to stop them from “jacking” up prices.
(NEW YORK) — When customers walk in to shop at Costco Wholesale, they flash a membership card to an employee who typically gives a smile and a nod before they can glide their XL cart into the big box retailer. But now, the warehouse store is cracking down on its entry parameters to avoid non-members from slipping inside under a false pretense.
The company has caught on to friends utilizing someone else’s membership card to access the big box store, so to combat the issue, its adding a new system upon arrival.
“Over the coming months, membership scanning devices will be used at the entrance door of your local warehouse. Once deployed, prior to entering, all members must scan their physical or digital membership card by placing the barcode or QR Code against the scanner,” Costco said in a statement online. “Guests must also be accompanied by a valid member for entry.”
The warehouse retailer said an attendant will be at the door to assist any customers with questions or concerns.
“If your membership is inactive, expired, or you would like to sign up for a new membership, the attendant will ask that you stop by the membership counter prior to entering the warehouse to shop,” the statement continued. “Additionally, if your membership card does not have a photo, please be prepared to show your valid photo ID.”
Members without a photo on their card can also go to the membership counter and get their photo taken to add to the card.
(WASHINGTON) — A weaker-than-expected jobs report on Friday fueled concern about a potential economic recession and calls for an interest rate cut.
Employers hired 114,000 workers last month, falling well short of economist expectations of 185,000 jobs, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data showed. The unemployment rate climbed to 4.3%, the highest level since October 2021.
The hiring in July marked a steep slowdown from the 206,000 jobs added over the previous month, and the new data came in well below the monthly average over the past year.
The cooldown of the job market foretells a possible economic downturn and bolsters the case for an interest rate cut at the Federal Reserve’s next meeting in September, analysts told ABC News. The central bank may have erred in holding interest rates steady at its meeting this week, some analysts added.
“The labor market is in a perilous spot,” Nick Bunker, economic research director for North America at Indeed Hiring Lab, told ABC News in a statement. “It’s not clear what changes and rescues it from its current trajectory.”
The report on Friday indicates that the job market is cooling faster than previously known, rekindling fears of a recession, some analysts said.
The unemployment rate has soared this year from 3.7% to 4.3%. That trend has triggered a recession indicator known as the “Sahm Rule,” which says that a rise of 0.5 percentage points in the unemployment rate within a 12-month period typically precedes a recession.
The major stock indexes fell in early trading on Friday in response to the jobs data.
“The July employment report landed with a loud thud,” Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst at Bankrate, told ABC News.
In a post on X regarding the jobs data, prominent economist and New York Times opinion writer Paul Krugman described the economy as “pre-recessionary,” though he indicated that the economy will likely avert a downturn due to some technical reasons for the elevated unemployment rate.
Citing a need to rekindle job growth, however, Krugman called on the Fed to “cut, cut, cut.”
The fresh jobs data extends a monthslong stretch of economic performance marked by the key conditions for a rate cut: falling inflation and slowing job gains.
Price increases have slowed significantly from a peak of more than 9%, though inflation remains a percentage point higher than the Fed’s target rate of 2%. An outright drop in prices in June compared to the month prior marked a major sign of progress in slowing inflation.
In recent months, Fed Chair Jerome Powell has shifted focus to the central bank’s responsibility for maintaining a robust job market, in addition to its goal of controlling inflation.
“For a long time, since inflation arrived, it’s been right to mainly focus on inflation. But now that inflation has come down and the labor market has indeed cooled off, we’re going to be looking at both mandates,” Powell said last month at a meeting of The Economic Club of Washington, D.C.
On Wednesday, Powell said the Fed may cut interest rates at its next meeting in September, though he said the central bank would like to see further evidence that inflation is heading downward.
“We’ve made no decisions about future meetings and that includes the September meeting,” Powell said at a press conference in Washington D.C. “We’re getting closer to the point at which we’ll reduce our policy rate, but we’re not quite at that point yet.”
In recent months, observers voiced optimism about the possibility of a “soft landing,” in which inflation returns to normal levels while the economy averts a recession. However, the jobs report appeared to sour some of that enthusiasm.
“The soft landing in the U.S. labor market is in danger,” said Bunker.