U.S. Inflation Slows Down but Remains Stubborn

Despite recent slowdowns in U.S. price indicators, it's premature to declare inflation easing off. The year-on-year rise in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) has fallen from its peak of 4.2% in May to 3.5% in June and 3.4% in July, while the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index dropped to 3.7% in June from 4.1% in May.

However, these gains remain far from the Federal Reserve's 2% target, and the root cause of inflation lies in tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump and supply shocks from the war in the Middle East.

Nvidia is set to raise its AI server prices by up to 17% early next year due to a shortage of memory chips. This increase will likely spread to consumer electronics, with prices rising for Amazon's Echo Dot and Kindle, and Dell planning to raise PC shipment prices in January.