'Certainly something to celebrate': Prices fall for the first time in over 3 years

MAGA Republicans have been quick to blame President Joe Biden for inflation, although inflation following the COVID-19 pandemic is hardly limited to the United States. Statista published a list of the 20 countries with the world's high inflation rates in 2023, and the U.S. was nowhere to be found.

Inflation has been a global problem, not a problem that is limited to the U.S. And according to new U.S. government data, prices are declining.

NBC News' Brian Cheung reports, "The Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index (PCE), one of two major readings on inflation, fell by 0.1 percent between October and November, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said Friday — the first monthly decline in more than 3½ years. Combined with other recent data showing disposable personal income and consumer sentiment rising, the United States' economy appears to be heading into 2024 on strong footing even as it cools down."

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A separate report from the University of Michigan, Cheung reports, "showed consumer sentiment soaring 14 percent in December."

The report's author, Joanne Hsu, wrote, "All age, income, education, geographic, and political identification groups saw gains in sentiment this month. The index is now just shy of the midpoint between the pre-pandemic reading and the historic low reached in June 2022."

The U.S. Federal Reserve, after a series of interest rate hikes, is now saying it may cut interest rates sometime in 2024 — although it remains to be seen how much will be cut, and when. The Fed has been raising interest rates in the hope of taming inflation, and Inflation Insights founder Omair Sharif is urging the Fed to proceed with caution before making a decision about a possible cut.

Sharif, according to Cheung, said of 2024's first quarter, "The more benign inflation data is certainly something to celebrate, but there is some turbulence ahead."

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Read NBC News' full report at this link.