On July 11, the June Consumer Price Index report showed that headline inflation declined overall for the first time since May 2020, while the index’s “core” (inflation minus food and energy) measurement showed “the smallest” annual increase “since April 2021.” CNN’s initial coverage of the CPI report repeatedly noted that it was “good news for consumers” as correspondent Paula Newton emphasized “this is the first time we have seen any signs of deflation since the pandemic, and that is truly significant.”

Bharat Ramamurti, who recently left President Joe Biden's National Economic Council to join the American Economic Liberties Project, argued: “America’s fight against the global post-Covid inflation crisis is over. We won—bringing inflation down while maintaining extremely low unemployment.”

Harvard economist Jason Furman, who has questioned the Biden administration's policy on inflation and formerly served as President Obama’s chairman for the Council of Economic Advisers, posted that the CPI release showed “amazing inflation data for June,” adding, “No matter how you look at it inflation was basically non-existent during the month of June.”

The inflation report was so positive that multiple news organizations are framing it as helping to make the case for interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve.

Yet, according to a Fox & Friends segment, the inflation report, which beat expectations, wasn’t really good news at all.

After Fox & Friends co-host Lawrence Jones set up the segment by asking, “How bad is it?” Fox Business correspondent Jackie DeAngelis seemed to display a fundamental misunderstanding of the inflation measure. She incorrectly claimed that the so-called “core” CPI measure, which is currently at 3.3%, was what the Federal Reserve is targeting to drop to 2%. What the Fed actually prioritizes is the personal consumption expenditures index, or PCE, which is currently at 2.6% and lower than the latest overall CPI measure, which is at 3%. Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell actually explained both of these points yesterday during testimony on Capitol Hill, stressing that the Fed’s preferred inflation measure is PCE and also explaining that the central bank is not planning to wait until headline inflation drops to 2% before loosening interest rates.

DeAngelis also pointed to the “core” CPI measure, which excludes food and energy costs, being higher than the overall measure of inflation, saying: “I don’t think that’s a win for this administration.” She failed to mention, however, that the increase in the “core” CPI measure was the smallest increase in more than three years.

After that, DeAngelis falsely claimed that Biden has “basically destroyed the oil industry in this country.” The reality is that energy production is higher than ever under Biden. DeAngelis also said, “You can't get these prices down without bringing oil prices down, and that's what President Trump is saying that he'll do.” But economic experts from across the political spectrum, including 16 Nobel Prize-winners, have explained that Trump’s policies would send inflation skyrocketing.

Lastly, DeAngelis Jones took issue with Powell saying yesterday that he hasn’t met privately with Biden in two years. But when Powell was questioned about this, he said it wasn’t out of the ordinary that the president hadn’t sought a meeting, noting that the Fed is an “independent agency.” DeAngelis then took this further by promoting a long-running right-wing conspiracy theory that Biden isn’t actually running the presidency, saying, “The president maybe isn’t the one that’s really calling the shots right now, at the end of the day.”