Once upon a time in the world of money, people wanted to know how prices of things were changing. This is called inflation. Imagine you buy candies, and one day, they cost more than the day before. There was a special report about something called the “producer price index” or PPI. This report said that the costs for things made by workers went up by 0.4% in January. That means prices went up a little! But, it was even higher than what some experts thought. They thought it would only go up by 0.3%. When the news came out, it made the stock market, where people buy and sell parts of big companies, tick up a little. This is like a game where players want to score points. Meanwhile, another measure, called the core PPI, also showed prices went up, but only a little bit. Some things got cheaper, like planes and doctor visits. Prices for doctors dropped by 0.5% this time, which is good news! However, big prices changes showed up in other places. For example, eggs got really, really expensive! They cost 186.4% more than last year! This happened because many chickens had to be taken away to stop sickness. Even though prices are going up, some smart people said we might not get cuts on interest rates for a while. Interest rates are like the extra money you pay back when you borrow. They expect it might take until later in the year for things to change. And that’s the story of how prices are playing a game of up and down! Everyone hopes to find a way to make everyday things cost less, so people can buy more fun stuff every day!