NPR.

This is the indicator from Planet Money, I'm Whalen Wong.

And I'm Adrian Mah.

Today, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by three quarters of a percentage point.

This continued the Fed's aggressive move to try and bring down inflation, which right now

is running at 9%.

Now, 9% is the headline figure you see everywhere, but economists tend to focus on a different

measure of inflation called core CPI.

That number is 6%.

It's different from the headline CPI figure because it leaves out a couple of things that

actually take up a big chunk of household budgets, gas and groceries.

And out of those two categories, groceries are really where everybody feels the pinch

of inflation, right?

Unless like, you're one of those people who doesn't eat food.

And that general feeling of getting hit by inflation, that is something that is really

important to the Fed.

And that is because the way consumers feel about prices and where they're headed, those

feelings shape behavior.

And that's called inflation expectations.

Econvokub of the day.

Here's a classic example.

If people believe inflation will be higher in the future, they'll ask for a raise at

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