Fresh inflation data offered economists and policymakers further evidence that price increases are meaningfully cooling, good news more than a year into the Federal Reserve’s campaign to slow the economy and wrestle cost increases back under control.The Consumer Price Index climbed 3.2 percent in the year through July, according to a report released on Thursday. That marked the first acceleration in 13 months, and followed a 3 percent reading in June.But that pickup required context. Inflation was rapid in June of last year and slightly slower the following month. That means that when this year’s numbers were measured against 2022 readings, June looked lower and July appeared higher than if the year-ago figures had been more stable.Economists are more keenly focused on another figure: the “core” inflation index that strips …
