US Inflation Slows to 3.4% Amid Iran War-Driven Oil Price Volatility

Inflation in the US slowed down to 3.4% year-over-year in July, according to Labor Department data released on Wednesday.

This is a minor decrease from June's 3.5% rate and indicates that the elevated oil and gas costs driven by the Iran war have had a limited effect on wider economic prices so far.

Month-over-month, prices edged up by only 0.1% between June and July.

Stripping out volatile food and energy costs, core inflation slipped to an annual rate of 2.5% in July, down from 2.6% in June.

The figure matches a post-pandemic low previously reached in January and February, prior to the start of the Iran war.