Relief checks live updates: COLA 2023, mortgages, social security payments, housing market,

Hello and welcome to AS USA’s live blog covering financial news and inflation relief

As inflation trends downward, prices remain 7.1 percent higher than last year’s. Next week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) will release the December Consumer Price Index report, which will provide an indication of how the Federal Reserve’s move to increase interest rates has impacted the prices of goods and services. 

On Friday, the BLS released the December jobs report, which showed that the economy had added 223,000 jobs last month, bringing the national unemployment rate down to 3.5 percent. This figure is evidence of a tight labor market and is above the 3.7 percent projection the Fed had assumed their actions would increase the rate by the end of 2022. The US central bank believes that in 2023 the average unemployment rate will sit around 3.6 percent, an increase of 1.1 percent from where it currently stands. 

These rate increases have already begun to impact the housing market, where prices are falling across the country as higher rates price some buyers out. This has slowed demand and is leading some sellers to drop their asking price. 

We will cover all this and more, so stick around!