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‘Boy, That Is Progress’: CNBC’s Rick Santelli Reacts To ‘Cooler Than Expected’ Inflation Numbers Under Trump

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CNBC host Rick Santelli said Thursday the United States was making “progress” in fighting inflation under President Donald Trump after the Department of Labor released new data.

The Producer Price Index (PPI) remained flat in February following a 0.6% rise in January and a 0.5% increase in December, according to a release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Santelli said that the expectations were for an increase in the PPI, a prediction that turned out to be false.

“On the headline, expecting up 3/10. Up zero. Goose egg. Boy, that is progress. We haven’t had a number that low. Well, we equaled it in July of last year when we had another zero. To find a lower number, you’re back to October, October of ‘23 at -4/10,” Santelli said. “Strip out the all-important food and energy, down 1/10. Down 1/10. That’s 4/10 lower than expectations. Down 1/10 also equals July of last year. Find a lower number, you’re going back to Covid times. April of 2020. Now, let’s take the ex-food energy in trade. That comes in at up 2/10. That’s a 1/10 light to expectations. Up 2/10. How does that fit in? Well, that would actually be the lowest since it was up 1/10 in November of last year.”

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“All right, let’s take a step back into macro. Year-over-year on the headline, 3.2. That’s a 1/10 cooler than expected, 3/10 less than 3.5 in the rearview mirror. And 3.2 would be the smallest month over month since 2.9 in November of last year,” Santelli continued. “Ex food and energy year-over-year comes in at 3.4., 3.4, that’s 1/10 lighter than expectations, 2/10 lighter than the rearview mirror. 3.4 equals where we were in November of last year. To find a lower number, you’re in September of ‘24. And finally, the sixth part of this PPI complex comes in at ex food, ex energy, ex trade, that comes in at 3.3, 3.3, that would be 1/10 lighter than expectations, 1/10 lighter than the 3.4 in the rearview mirror.”

Democrats have criticized President Donald Trump over high prices, especially the price of eggs, which has doubled since November 2023, according to the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank, fueled by the culling of tens of millions of chickens in response to a bird flu outbreak during the Biden administration.

Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced a plan to reduce egg prices and to develop a long-term plan to combat bird flu in a Feb. 26 op-ed in The Wall Street Journal. Egg prices have dropped by $1.85 since the Rollins op-ed.

Trump carried 46% of the Hispanic vote, 40% of the Asian vote and 13% of the black vote in 2024, according to CNN’s exit poll, largely fueled by concerns about the economy and inflation. That poll also noted Trump won 76% of the votes of those who said inflation caused their families “severe hardship” and 52% of those who said they endured “moderate hardship” because of inflation.

“To summarize, the market has gone down a bit in yields, but it’s kind of right back where it was with respect to a 10-year, at 4.32, that’s up one basis point. And probably the reason is the progress on these numbers,” Santelli said. “But as I pointed out, we’ve kind of been there, done that with these numbers last year. So we are making progress with respect to going from the end of last year to the beginning of this year. But we’re not really making progress on the big picture. But certainly inflation isn’t getting worse. No doubt this is a bit cooler than expected. And it’s definitely cooler than our last look at PPI.”

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) hit a four-decade high of 9% in June 2022, after then-President Joe Biden signed multiple spending initiatives into law, including the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, despite warnings that it could cause inflation to go up. While Biden was in office, prices shot up by over 20%.