Last week’s release of the March CPI report revealed that inflation remains on its downward path. Headline inflation has dropped materially, falling from 9% last summer to 5% in March, driven in large part by a drop in oil and food prices. Core inflation, which excludes volatile energy and food costs and serves as the more structural measure of inflation upon which the Fed bases monetary policy, rose by an expected 0.4% from the previous month, putting inflation at 5.6% annual rate. This is down from the peak of 6.6% seen in September 2022, but still a long way from the Fed’s 2% long-term target.