Our Federal Reserve doesn’t control events around the world, like a ship being stuck in the Suez Canal, or the current Red Sea geopolitical aggression, or China raising chip prices, or OPEC raising gasoline prices, or… or… or. So, consumer and producer prices are always a bit of a wild card. Since they influence the Federal Reserve’s actions, and therefore, in turn, mortgage rates, inflation has certainly been in the news for some years now. (There’s even a joke about inflation at the bottom.) The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is designed to broadly capture changes in the prices of goods and services purchased by U.S. consumers. The largest component is housing, with a weight of 45 percent. Next is transportation at 17 percent, then food and beverages at 14 percent, medical care at 8 percent, education and communication are 6 percent, recreation is 5 percent, other goods and services 3 percent, and then apparel at 2.6 percent. (Today’s podcast can be found here, and this week’s is sponsored by Truework. By connecting every verification method into one platform, Truework helps lenders eliminate process disruptions, maintain a competitive borrower experience, and reduce the fiscal impact of verifying income.) Lender and Broker Services and Software “Start off the new year celebrating your independence by connecting with Optimal Blue at the MBA Independent Mortgage Bankers Conference, Jan. 22 – 24 in New Orleans. As a proud sponsor, our capital markets experts will be set up at Table #1 and ready to talk about your 2024 goals. Trying to operate more profitably? Interested in finding new efficiencies? Ready to work with a proven and respected technology partner? We’re ready to discuss these goals and more. Let us tell you what it means to work with Optimal Blue to leverage the industry’s only end-to-end capital markets platform. Pay us a visit at IMB24 or reach out to our team directly.”