The reliability of US inflation statistics is under heightened scrutiny after it emerged that more than one-third of the August Consumer Price Index (CPI) relied on estimated rather than observed prices. Economists warn that the growing use of imputed data threatens the credibility of a key benchmark for Federal Reserve policy and investor expectations. More CPI Prices Are Now “Best Guesses” The share of estimated prices in the US CPI climbed to 36% in August 2025, according to figures highlighted by market commentary outlet The Kobeissi Letter and confirmed by Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) methodology. That is up from 32% in July and represents the highest proportion since the BLS began tracking the metric
source: https://beincrypto.com/why-smart-investors-no-longer-trust-us-cpi/