The Week in Business: Prices Are Rising on Cars, Groceries and Even Burritos

Good morning and happy Sunday. Here’s what you need to know in business and tech news for the week ahead. — Charlotte Cowles

Perhaps you’ve noticed that clothes, cars, groceries and even Chipotle burritos seem more expensive these days? It’s true — consumer prices grew by 5 percent in May from a year earlier. That’s a bigger jump than economists expected, and it followed another sharp rise in April (4.2 percent), spurring larger concerns about inflation. Some investors and politicians worry that prices will keep climbing, potentially compelling the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates and slow economic growth. Others believe that this is just a temporary bump and that prices will stabilize as the economy catches up after a year of pandemic-induced stagnation. (If you compare this year’s prices with those from 2019, May’s growth rate is only 2.5 percent — a much less scary number.)

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