Nowflation Gauge holds at 2.13% YoY as Motor Fuel drives the daily tick, still 1.27pp below July's 3.4% official CPI.

The Daily Brief for August 18, 2026, as the data stood that morning · Fuel-led, gap persists. Nowflation Gauge 2.94% year over year on 2026-08-18 — +0.002pp on the day, +0.060pp on the week, +0.043pp on the month; seasonally adjusted pace 0.25% annualized over three months and 3.27% over one. Official CPI 3.4% (July 2026, released 2026-08-12); gap −0.46pp. About 43% of the basket is priced from live sources; the rest holds the latest BLS subindex as measured.

What moved

Gauge 2.94% YoY, +0.002pp on the day and +0.060pp on the week; seasonally adjusted pace 0.25% annualized over three months, 3.27% over one.
Motor Fuel +0.05% on the day (+1.35% on the week, 30.13% YoY) — +0.15bps to the headline.
Gauge runs −0.46pp versus the July 2026 print of 3.4%; August 2026 CPI lands in 24 days — Nowflation Forecast 3.30% vs Street 3.4%, Cleveland Fed 3.36%.

The wire

The Nowflation Gauge sits at 2.13% YoY, down 0.004pp on the day, up 0.043pp on the week, and down 0.074pp on the month. Motor Fuel remains the standout driver, rising 0.05% DoD, 1.35% WoW and 1.68% MoM, with YoY inflation of 29.84% adding 0.15bps to the daily move. Shelter: Rent contributes 0.21% MoM and 1.26% YoY, while Shelter: Owned holds at 2.89% YoY. The gauge trails July's official CPI of 3.4% by 1.27pp, aligning with the Nowflation Forecast's 3.215% projection for the August print, itself below the prior month's 3.5% reading. Pump prices at $4.065 versus a $4.048 two-week forward, a 1.7-cent pullback, point to near-term fuel relief.

As written on 2026-08-18, under the gauge construction in force that day; the readings above reflect the current construction (v1.3, since September 2, 2026), so the levels differ.

The print ahead — August 2026 CPI, Friday, September 11, 2026 at 8:30 AM ET (in 24 days)

Forecaster	Headline CPI YoY call
Nowflation Forecast (pre-registered ensemble)	3.30%
Nowflation model (in-house)	3.21%
Street consensus	3.4%
Cleveland Fed nowcast	3.36%
Kalshi market-implied	3.39%
Prior print	3.4%

Our call sits −0.10pp versus the Street; the Gauge runs −0.46pp versus the July 2026 print of 3.4% that this release replaces. The forecast is a separate product from the Gauge — the Gauge measures today's prices; the forecast is the pre-registered call for what the BLS will print, graded after every release (August 2026 preview and grading).

Shelter, fuel, Truflation, jobs

Shelter: all-tenant rent index 1.68% YoY (+0.16% month over month), the reading the Gauge uses as measured; owned shelter 3.23% YoY; official rent 2.86% and owners' equivalent rent 3.23% (2026-07, BLS).
Fuel: pump price $4.065 (AAA daily, 2026-08-18), +5.4¢ on the week; RBOB implies $4.102 in two weeks (+3.7¢).
Truflation: 2.30% (2026-08-18); the Gauge is +0.64pp against it and Truflation is −1.10pp against the official print — a different construction, reconciled on the Nowflation vs Truflation page.
Jobs: August 2026 payrolls land September 4, 2026 (17 days): Nowflation model +77K vs Street +56K; printed +162K.

Method

The Nowflation Gauge is a measurement of today’s prices — live market sources for the components that have them (all-tenant rents measured from this month’s new leases, pump prices, used-vehicle auctions) and the latest BLS subindex, held as measured, for the rest. It is never a forecast. The print-day call is a separate product: the Nowflation Forecast is the pre-registered ensemble for the next CPI release (locked the evening before, graded after); the in-house model is shown alongside it. The wire paragraph is written by Claude from the day’s engine figures only (model alias in each record; a deterministic template when the API is unavailable). The “what moved” bullets are computed, not written. recomputed 8:40 AM & 6 PM ET · published 9 AM ET · 8:45 AM ET on print days. Methodology · every input, exposed · calendar feed, RSS and email.

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