US Consumer Price Index (CPI)

Published mid-month at 8:30 AM ET by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI tracks out-of-pocket price changes paid by urban households across shelter, food, energy, medical care, and core services. A single 0.1-percentage-point surprise routinely moves 2-year Treasury yields by 10 to 18 basis points within sixty seconds. US Consumer Price Index claims #1 ahead of US Nonfarm Payrolls (#2) and the FOMC Federal Funds Rate (#3) because persistent post-2021 inflation sensitivity kept monthly CPI mornings the single highest-volatility 60-second event across CME SOFR futures, 2-year Treasuries, and Nasdaq-100 contracts throughout 2026. While the FOMC statement (#3) formalizes policy eight times a year, CPI runs twelve times a year and reprices the entire forward curve two weeks before BEA Core PCE (#5) confirms the move. Unlike Nonfarm Payrolls (#2), where large two-month benchmark revisions (+84,000 across August and September 2026) often temper initial reactions, unrevised CPI-U directly resets TIPS principal, Social Security COLA formulas, and household real-wage math on the spot, giving fixed-income and FX desks an immediate, non-negotiable cash-flow anchor every month at 8:30 AM ET.