Inflation cools slightly as experts worry about expected rise in interest rates

There is improving news on the consumer front, as inflation begins to cool.

Data shows that inflation rose just 0.2% from May to June.

That is the lowest level since March 2021, which is still up 3% from a year ago.

Finance experts believe The Federal Reserve will once again raise interest rates at the end of this month.

"Housing prices definitely remain the biggest obstacle," said Ted Rossman with Bankrate.com

The 6abc data journalists found in the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington metro area in June, the shelter was up 7% year to year, and food prices increased 6.5%.

"The fact that your grocery bills are still going up, your rent's still going up, and it's building off a higher base, I think that's one of the real troublesome parts about inflation," added Rossman.

The positive news is that energy was down 15% in the tri-state area year to year, and gasoline was down 27.8%.

"Whereas gas prices are often a contributor to inflation, this time around, they're a key contributor to disinflation, and I think there's some ripple effects to that, that are positive too," said Rossman.

Lower gas prices caused airfare to start to come down, and lower shipping costs also translated into some product savings.

Vehicle prices are also on a downward trend. Bernard Yaros with Moody's Analytics said it's not just used vehicles seeing price cuts.

"If we look at the new vehicle market, we should also see some further declines there in terms of prices," said Yaros.

So what will the Feds do next? Yaros believes there will be one more rate hike.

"Our assumption is that we're going to get a rate hike at the end of July and then we're going to stop," said Yaros. "The Federal Reserve will hold there and then begin cutting rates sometime around the middle of next year."

WalletHub also looked at cities where inflation is rising the most.

Philadelphia is number 12 on the list with a 3% rise in CPI month to month.

The Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater area in Florida is number one with a CPI increase of 7%.