“Trading is very competitive and you have to be able to handle getting your butt kicked.” – Paul Tudor Jones

1. U.S. Incomes Fall for Third Straight Year — americans’ inflation-adjusted median household income fell to $74,580 in 2022, declining 2.3% from the 2021 estimate of $76,330, the Census Bureau said Tuesday. The amount has dropped 4.7% since its peak in 2019. The figures add to the picture of the economic challenges facing households since Covid-19 hit in early 2020. Inflation hit a four decade high last summer as the pandemic upended supply chains and the Ukraine war drove up energy prices.
2. U.S. Inflation Accelerated in August as Gasoline Prices Jumped — the consumer-price index, a measure of goods and services prices across the U.S. economy, rose 0.6% in August from the prior month, a faster pace than in July as gasoline prices jumped, the Labor Department reported Wednesday.
Prices rose 0.3% when stripping out the volatile categories of food and energy, a hotter pace for so-called core inflation than the prior two months. The uptick in core prices reflected higher costs for items such as rent, vehicle insurance and medical care, the Labor Department said.
On an annual basis, prices overall were up 3.7% in August versus 3.2% in July. Annual core inflation edged lower to 4.3% in August from 4.7% the prior month.
3. U.S. Inflation Accelerated in August as Gasoline Prices Jumped — The consumer-price index, a closely watched inflation gauge, rose 0.6% in August from the prior month, the Labor Department reported Wednesday. More than half of the increase was due to higher gasoline prices.
So-called core prices, which exclude volatile food and energy items, rose by a relatively mild 0.3% last month after even lower readings in June and July. The August increase reflected higher costs for items such as airfares and vehicle insurance. The monthly core reading likely keeps Federal Reserve officials on course to hold interest rates steady at their meeting next week without resolving a bigger debate over whether they will need to raise them again this year to slow the economy and maintain recent progress on inflation.

The week ahead — Economic data from Econoday.com: