July CPI Decline Deserves Scrutiny as Minority Firms Continue to Face Elevated Costs

WASHINGTON - Rezul -- The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the Consumer Price Index increased just 0.1 percent in July, while the 12-month inflation rate declined slightly to 3.4 percent. Core CPI increased 0.2 percent for the month and 2.5 percent over the past year.

Energy Declines Mask Still-Elevated Costs

Energy prices declined 1.5 percent in July, following a much larger decline in June, helping restrain the headline CPI. Gasoline prices fell 2.9 percent during July. Energy prices are still 14.7 percent higher than a year ago, while gasoline prices remained 24.6 percent higher.

Alternative Measures Suggest Caution

The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland's Median CPI increased 0.3 percent in July, while its 16 percent trimmed-mean CPI increased 0.2 percent. These measures are designed to reduce the influence of unusually large price movements in individual categories.

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The differences suggest that underlying inflation may be somewhat stronger than the headline figure alone indicates.

Minority Firms May Be Experiencing a Different Inflation Reality

The national CPI is designed to measure changes in consumer prices. It is not designed to measure the operating-cost structure of Minority Business Enterprises. That distinction is particularly important for Black- and minority-owned firms concentrated in:

• Transportation and logistics
• Food services and hospitality
• Construction and subcontracting
• Retail
• Personal and consumer services
• Health care and social assistance

Slower inflation also does not mean that prices have fallen.

Creative Investment Research Calls for an MBE Inflation Index

Creative Investment Research believes the limitations of headline CPI demonstrate the need for a new measure of inflation specifically focused on Minority Business Enterprises.

An MBE Inflation Index could measure the actual cost structure of minority firms by weighting expenses such as fuel, commercial rent, insurance, food inputs, transportation, labor, financing, utilities, and business services according to their importance within major minority-business industries.

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MBEs Remain Part of the Inflation Solution

The firm also emphasized that Minority Business Enterprises should be viewed as part of the nation's response to inflation and supply-chain instability.

Increasing MBE participation can expand supplier competition, diversify sourcing, reduce concentration risk, shorten transportation distances, and strengthen regional productive capacity.

"Minority firms should not only be studied as businesses disproportionately affected by inflation," Cunningham said. "They should be recognized as inflation-reducing supply-chain partners capable of increasing competition and strengthening the resilience of the U.S. economy."

For more, see: https://www.impactinvesting.online/2026/08/july-cpi-looks-better-perhaps-too.html