In July, consumer prices in the United States rose modestly, but concerns about the quality of the data intensified.

Consumer prices in the United States rose modestly in July, but rising import tariffs led to increased product costs, resulting in a measure of core inflation recording its largest increase in six months. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Tuesday that the Consumer Price Index rose by 0.2% in July, in line with expectations, but lower than June's 0.3%. On a year-over-year basis, the CPI increased by 2.7%, matching June's rate and falling below expectations. The core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose by 0.3% month-on-month, marking the largest increase since January, and increased by 3.1% year-on-year, above June's 2.9%. As the CPI report was released, concerns grew over the quality of inflation and employment data. Prior to this, the U.S. government had cut budgets and staff, leading to the suspension of data collection for some CPI baskets in certain regions across the country. The Bureau of Labor Statistics cited the need to align survey workload with resource levels as the reason for the complete suspension of consumer price index data collection in a city in Nebraska, as well as in Utah and New York. Additionally, the BLS also suspended data collection for an average of 15% of samples in 72 other regions. This resulted in a temporary decrease in price and rent data used to calculate the CPI, prompting the BLS to use estimates to fill in the missing information.