Due to skyrocketing interest rates still being a hot topic recently, the Federal Reserve has recently chosen to raise its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points, and market participants are once again analyzing the latest US consumer price inflation (CPI) data. Given that the federal funds rate has recently been raised to its highest level since September 2007, it is clear that market participants hope that price levels will continue to decline, paving the way for the Federal Reserve to suspend interest rate hikes.

With "everyone's attention focused on the March CPI report" and inflation "below expectations", US stock market futures have risen. The annual CPI data for March in the United States was 5% lower than expected, far lower than the 6% in February, indicating that inflation may be on a sustained downward path. Market participants will be relieved that the annual growth rate of the entire project index in March was 5%, which is the "smallest 12 month increase since May 2021". After seasonal adjustments, the Consumer Price Index (CPI U) of all cities increased by 0.1% in March, following a 0.4% increase in February. Although the food index remained unchanged in March, the energy index significantly decreased, with a decrease of 3.5% in March, following a decrease of only 0.6% in February. In the past 12 months, the energy index has decreased by 6.4%, but the housing index remains high, growing by 0.6% month on month and soaring by 8.2% in the past 12 months. Although the overall inflation rate significantly decreased to 5% in March, the core inflation rate remains high.

The latest CPI data undoubtedly increases the possibility of the Federal Reserve suspending its interest rate hike cycle at its next FOMC meeting in May. However, market participants will know that the anti inflation process still has some way to go before inflation drops to the long-awaited 2% target interest rate.