CNN‘s regular programming was halted as presenter Kate Bolduan was joined by reporter Matt Egan to deliver major breaking news on the US cost of living in a huge win for President Donald Trump. Matt announced: “Inflation took a big step in the right direction to start the year off.” Pointing at the graphics, he explained: “Consumer prices up by 2.4% year over year, that is an improvement from 2.7% in December, which beat expectations, which were for 2.5%.
During the programme, Matt pointed out: “Economists look very closely at core inflation, which includes food and energy. Core inflation came in at 2.5%, which is notable because that’s the lowest annual inflation rate for core since March 2021, before the inflation crisis.”
The White House, which has been facing political pressure over Trump’s economic policies, was quick to celebrate the report.
“President Trump has defeated Joe Biden‘s inflation crisis,” the White House said in a statement, adding that the economy would “turbocharge even further” if the Federal Reserve made “long-overdue” interest rate cuts.
The White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said on Newsmax: “This combined formula of tax cuts, of deregulation, of lowering inflation, unleashing American energy, all of the president’s actions combine to make a stronger economy [and put] more money in the pockets of the American people.
“Today’s report proves that. Of course, the jobs report also coming out this week proves that.”
Speaking to reporters on Friday (February 13), the President said the US economy was “unbelievable” and added that “we right now have the hottest country anywhere in the world”.
He added: “We’ve brought costs way down, and the numbers were surprising, except to me, they weren’t surprising. The inflation numbers are way down. We brought it back on track.”
According to the consumer price index, January data showed early signs that the US unemployment rate could reverse throughout 2026, with the US adding 130,000 jobs last month and the annual inflation rate dropping to 2.5%.