Vox Sentences - Jobs up, inflation up

May's consumer price index shows inflation at levels not seen since the Great Recession; the US will donate 500 million vaccine doses to other countries.

Tonight's Sentences was written by Gregory Svirnovskiy.

May's consumer price index at record levels

Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

• The consumer price index jumped 5 percent compared to May 2020, in the fastest rate of increase since just before the Great Recession in August 2008. [CNBC / Jeff Cox]

• Some common purchases are generally more expensive than they used to be. Gas and energy costs rose 28.5 percent compared to this time last year; the cost of apparel has grown by 5.6 percent, and food by 2.2 percent. Airfare and used car prices were also way up. Overall, May’s CPI showed a 0.8 percent increase from the prior month, double what experts predicted. [Axios / Kate Marino]

• Concern about the rising inflation rate was tempered by encouraging progress on the job front. Jobless claims fell to 376,000 last week, and are now at their lowest point since mid-March 2020. Claims have been declining for the last six weeks, and layoffs are down too. [Reuters / Lucia Mutikani]

• And experts don’t expect the higher inflation rate to be much more than a temporary spike as the economy gets back into full swing and people spend their excess savings. [CNBC / Patti Domm]

• "We believe the data are still very noisy and say more about the rapidity of the rebound in demand,” said Alastair George, chief investment strategist at  Edison Group. [The Guardian / Julia Kollewe and Graeme Wearden]

US will donate 500 million vaccine doses to other countries

• In a speech Thursday coming on the eve of the annual G-7 Summit, President Joe Biden announced a White House plan to buy and donate 500 million vaccine doses around the world in the next year, to go along with 80 million doses due to be shipped out this month. [Associated Press / Zeke Miller, Aamer Madhani and Jonathan Lemire]

• American-donated vaccines will be sent off through the UN’s COVAX program, to be distributed to 92 countries and the African Union. Biden will push the other G-7 countries to do the same. [BBC]

• It was a first key step in a trip meant to reassert America's status as a global leader, after four years of relative isolation under President Donald Trump. But experts and activists say further efforts are needed to vaccinate the globe, as 500 million doses will only cover 3 percent of the world's population. [New York Times / Sharon LaFraniere, Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Noah Weiland] 

• The trip kicked into high gear today, as Biden met with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and put out messaging in advance of the G-7 . He’ll soon leave for NATO in Brussels before meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva, Switzerland. [CNN / Stephen Collinson]

• In the meeting with Putin, Biden aims to convey a desire for stability in America's relationship with Russia while also emphasizing that cybersecurity, military, and political attacks will no longer be tolerated by the White House. [CBS News / Sarah Kolinovsky and Molly Nagle]

A third New York mayoral debate is happening Thursday, as the city comes closer to a primary vote set for June 22. [The New York Times]

• Brisbane is set to host the 2032 Summer Olympics. The Queensland Capital could officially be confirmed as an Olympic host city when the IOC meets in Tokyo next month. [Associated Press]

• Moderna is seeking FDA authorization to distribute its vaccine to people ages 12 to 17, a month after Pfizer’s request to do so was approved in early May. [CNN / Ben Tucker and Virginia Langmaid]

• The Keystone pipeline project is officially dead, after sponsors failed to convince President Biden to reverse the cancellation he enacted on his first day in office. [Associated Press / Matthew Brown]

“We are standing united to address Russia’s challenges to European security, starting with its aggression in Ukraine. And there will be no doubt about the resolve of the United States to defend our democratic values, which we cannot separate from our interests.”

[President Joe Biden in a Saturday op-ed in the Washington Post]

The internet was first conceived as a tool to promote free expression, to foster and enliven debate, and to strengthen democratic ideals. But it didn’t quite work out that way. [Spotify]

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