Inflation ticked up in February, as the Federal Reserve weighs when to cut interest rates and keeps close watch for signs that high prices are lingering throughout the economy.

Fresh data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Tuesday showed prices rose 3.2 percent over last year, up slightly from January’s 3.1 percent figure. Prices also rose 0.4 percent in February over the prior month.

Those top-line figures represent just a snippet of a bigger economic story. The fight against inflation has made major progress since it peaked at an annual rate of 9.1 percent in mid-2022. But the path to more normal price growth has been bumpy. And even though officials are getting ready to trim borrowing costs later this year, they can’t declare victory yet. The January inflation report was worse than expected, and now economists are scrambling to figure out how much that data tells us about what the medium-term trends hold.

Read more at msn.com