Why did egg prices fall so far?
US egg prices fell from $6.227 a dozen in March 2025 to $2.189 in July 2026 as bird-flu-hit laying flocks were rebuilt.
EconPlot › Explainers
Every explainer, and the data behind it
One question each, answered from the primary series. Every figure on every page carries what it measures, when it was measured, who publishes it and the date we read the data.
Inflation and prices
Inflation cooled — so why did my bill still go up?
Inflation cooling to 3.3% in the year to July 2026 means prices rose more slowly, not that they fell — the price level kept climbing.
The Federal Reserve and interest rates
The Fed's rate is 3.6%. Why does my credit card charge 21%?
In August 2026 the Fed's overnight rate was 3.63%; the average card rate was 20.94% in May 2026, 17.31 points higher.
What actually sets my mortgage rate?
A thirty-year mortgage is priced on the ten-year Treasury yield plus a lender margin: 4.79% on September 1 and 6.66% in the week to August 27, 2026.
Jobs and the labour market
What does the unemployment rate leave out?
The unemployment rate counts only people who searched for work in the last four weeks, so people who gave up looking drop out of it entirely.
Markets and index funds
Is an S&P 500 fund really 500 even bets?
An S&P 500 fund weights by market value: on 2 September 2026 NVIDIA was 8.23% of the fund, and twenty-three holdings were half the money.