‘Wow! — WOW!’ CNBC Anchor Stunned By ‘Whopping’ New Trump Inflation Number — ‘More Than Triple Expectations!’

CNBC anchor Rick Santelli was stunned by higher-than-expected inflation numbers amid a new round of disastrous polls and President Donald Trump’s widely-criticized gaffe about Americans’ financial situations.

On Wednesday morning, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released a PPI (Producer Price Index)  report that showed much higher inflation than expected:

The Producer Price Index for final demand increased 1.4 percent in April, seasonally adjusted, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Final demand prices advanced 0.7 percent in March and 0.6 percent in February. (See table A.) The April increase is the largest advance since rising 1.7 percent in March 2022. On an unadjusted basis, the index for final demand rose 6.0 percent for the 12 months ended in April, the largest 12-month increase since moving up 6.4 percent in December 2022.

Santelli was stunned as he read the news on Wednesday morning’s edition of CNBC’s Squawk Box, giving up a pair of “Wow!”s at the “whopping” increase:

CNBC ANCHOR RICK SANTELLI: Yeah, and numbers are coming in on the warm side. Our April Producer Price Index for the month of April, headline number almost triple expectations, up a whopping 1.4%! Wow!

You have to go back to March of 22 to find a bigger number, and that number was 1.7. Now, if we strip out the all-important food and energy, we’re also at a triple header here. We’re expecting up three 10s. We end up with up 1%. Up 1% would be the warmest since–.

Wow! Also March of 22.

Now, if we go to the ex-food energy and trade, it’s double expectations. We’re looking for up three tenths, it comes out up six tenths. That equals October of last year to find a higher number year in July of last years.

That report follows an exchange on the White House lawn Tuesday that is being widely criticized:

REPORTER: To what extent are American financial situations motivating you to make a deal?

TRUMP: Not even a little bit. The only thing that matters when I’m talking about Iran, they can’t have a nuclear weapon. I don’t think about America’s financial situation. I don’t think about anybody. If the stock market goes up or down a little bit, the American people understand it.

Watch above via CNBC’s Squawk Box.

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