White House officials are preparing the country for a hot inflation rate ahead of the release of Wednesday's Consumer Price Index, but they insist that some key inflation components — including gas prices — are coming down. Driving the news: Independent economists estimate that annual headline inflation will increase to 8.8% for June — up from 8.6% in May — when the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its CPI report on Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. ET. While Biden officials were careful not to predict that June’s CPI print would be the high-water mark for inflation, they noted that average gas prices have been declining ... (full story)