Consumer prices, which skyrocketed last year, are beginning to flatten as a wave of rising supply chain costs begins to recede. The Wall Street Journal reports that store shelf trends could be another sign inflation begins to turn a corner.
Many companies have raised their prices significantly over the past year to offset higher fuel costs, as well as ingredients, parts and labor. Now some of those costs are going down.
Freight payment group Cass Information Systems says derived rates in its Cass Freight Index fell 2.2% in December and US domestic shipping prices are on track to fall 5% this year. Declining capacity and lower fuel costs could drive costs down even further.
Xeneta says spot container rates from Asia to the US West Coast fell about 80% in December from a year earlier, and contract rates are also falling.
