The consumer price index slowed to a 3.3% year-over-year increase in May, below economists' expectation of 3.4%, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The core CPI increased 3.4% year over year, less than the expected 3.5%. The slowdown appears to have been insufficient to persuade the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates during a meeting this week, as investors price in one or two quarter-percentage-point cuts this year.

Distributors can increase profits and cash flow by using analytics to identify and reduce unprofitable sales, writes Randy MacLean, founder of WayPoint Analytics. MacLean details how distributors can use analytics to identify losing sales and improve their bottom line, with key strategies including evaluating customer profitability, repricing accounts, setting new minimum order quantities for certain products and targeting high-value accounts.

Martin Supply, a family-owned maintenance, repair and operations distributor, has honed its competitive edge amid rising ecommerce and national and international rivals through continuous improvement and technology investments to "observe what's going on in the market and then adapt and stay ahead of the curve," says co-CEO Douglas Ruggles. Martin Supply also focuses on hiring the right talent and expanding within industrial distribution -- it acquired Trinity Hardware Headquarters in April -- and will only add customers, geographies and products if it helps the company grow.

Consumer sentiment is extremely low, even though unemployment is low and wage growth has continued. Higher inflation in recent years is a major reason for this, with prices still far higher than they were prepandemic, despite a slowdown in recent months. A Harvard University study shows people see a 1-percentage-point increase in inflation as twice as bad as one in unemployment.

The 2.02 million 20-foot equivalent units handled by US ports in April anchor a trend that may result in seven consecutive months above 2 million TEUs if projections remain on track, according to Hackett Associates and the National Retail Federation. Hackett Associates founder Ben Hackett says the peak season for shipping has gotten flatter due to factors including robust consumer demand and retailers' need to restock after heavy pandemic sales.

While tools such as AI can perform some boring tasks, sales expert David Brock cautions that salespeople still need to equip themselves with knowledge. Brock writes that overreliance on technology "robs us of the ability to ask a meaningful follow up question, or to drill down into an issue, or to bridge from a generalization to a situationally contextual conversation."

The Federal Reserve has left its benchmark interest rate unchanged during a two-day policy meeting, and officials' median projection suggests one rate cut in 2024. However, officials also project four rate cuts in 2025. "There has been modest further progress" in bringing inflation back toward the Fed's 2% target, Chair Jerome Powell says.

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