Hi, David Brancaccio here. This week on Marketplace Morning Report, I was asked to share a personal

story. My wife and I worked on a plan to move back to California with two of our offspring living in the

Golden State. In November, we made that dream a reality when we purchased a cozy bungalow in the city of Altadena.

Just a few weeks later, our home, along with so many thousands of others, is in ruins, total loss.

This week, we return to survey what little the wildfire left and to start planning what might be next for us.

I'm learning a lot, and some of it may be useful to others rebuilding after disaster,

from cleaning up the mess to navigating insurance, mortgages, taxes, to securing contractors,

and more. Listen to Marketplace Morning Report wherever you get your podcasts.

Inflation is stuck.

From Marketplace, I'm Sabri Beneshore in for David Bruncaccio.

According to the PCE price index, that is a measure of inflation out this morning from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Prices in December rose three-tenths of a percent. That is the highest monthly change since April of last year. Some of that is the fact that energy prices have crept up. But if you take

energy out of the equation and food too, annual inflation has been sitting around 2.7 or 2.8%

since July. Christopher Lowe is chief economist at FHN Financial.

There is some good news if you dig into the details. Prices excluding food and energy.

They rose a little less than they have in recent months, but you've got to squint really hard at the numbers to see it. So inflation should

start coming down a little bit, but, you know, the fact is inflation progress has stalled.

The saving rate of Americans ticked down in December and has been coming down for really a couple

years. What do you make of that?

Well, yeah, it's still relatively high by historical standards. But it's the first time we've

been under 4% in quite a few years. Americans have been saving a lot in recent years, but it has been

declining. If you dig into the details,

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