The annual rate of US consumer inflation halved from nearly 3% in the period from July 2018 to February 2019. It then fluctuated in a range from 1.5% to 2.0% through 2019 before rising above 2.0% in the final months of that year. “Headline” inflation is known to be volatile and so references are often made to “core” inflation for analytical purposes. This measure has mostly ranged between 1.7% and...