I look forward to Hot Tomato Summer every year, but this is not what I had in mind

Tomatoes have become the new eggs
…
rices for [tomatoes] soared nearly 40% in April from a year ago

& yes, fuel prices are in play here (so is weather).

The taste of summer isn’t the only thing that got more expensive in April as the Consumer Price Index up 0.6% from March and nearly 4% from 2025.

The energy index increased 17.9 percent for the 12 months ending April.

Fuel / gas index up 29% in that same time frame.

Elsewhere:

• Producer Price Index up in April, mostly in petroleum-centric sectors
• Nonfarm payroll added jobs in “health care, transportation and warehousing, and retail trade” in April
• Nonfarm productivity edged up as well in Q1
• But real average hourly earnings dropped half a percent as wage gains lagged the CPI
• Import prices up just under 2% (exports just over 3%), driver primarily by (you guessed it)…fuel!

But what does it mean?!

The underlying metrics look fine, but people feel like their wallets have been given a dose of Ozempic. And most of it comes back to gas prices (just look at that graph‼️).

Expect our slide into summer to be focused on value and deals.

🗺️⛽️