Daily briefing · July 28, 2026

Today's Economic Brief

The latest official readings show consumer-price growth at 3.7%, unemployment at 4.2%, annualized real GDP growth at 2.1%. New releases and revisions can change that picture.

What changed

FRED Blog · Jul 27, 2026

Productivity growth, as seen in 1996

The recent AI boom has renewed debate about how official statistics capture changes in productivity growth and how any lags or limitations might impact monetary policy. For example, in the 1990s, some believed that low measures...

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FRED Blog · Jul 23, 2026

The link between crude oil prices and airfares

The takeaway Crude oil is used to produce jet fuel. Changes in crude oil prices, like the ones since March 2026, can affect jet fuel prices, which may or may not affect airfares. Crude oil, jet fuel, and airfares … Continue rea...

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BLS · Jul 22, 2026

Major Economic Indicators Latest Numbers

Consumer Price Index (CPI): -0.4% in Jun 2026 News Release Historical Data Unemployment Rate: 4.2% in Jun 2026 News Release Historical Data Payroll Employment: +57,000(p) in Jun 2026 News Release Historical Data Average Hourly...

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Why it matters

Consumer-price growth is 3.7%, up 1.3 percentage points from May 2025.
Unemployment rate is 4.2%, down 0.1 percentage points from May 2025.
Federal funds rate is 3.63%, down 0.7 percentage points from Jul 2025.

These comparisons describe published observations; they do not assign causes.

What comes next

Wed, Jul 29 at 10:00 AM ETMetropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment (Monthly)BLS
Wed, Jul 29 at 10:00 AM ETQuarterly Data Series on Business Employment DynamicsBLS
Wed, Jul 29 at 2:00 PM ETFOMC policy decisionFederal Reserve
Thu, Jul 30 at 8:30 AM ETGDP (Advance Estimate), 2nd Quarter 2026BEA
Thu, Jul 30 at 8:30 AM ETPersonal Income and Outlays, June 2026BEA