Denver's grocery prices spiked higher than national average

The Denver metro area had one of the country's highest spikes in grocery prices last month, with costs rising 2% compared with the national rate of 0.7%.

Why it matters: For many of the approximately 63% of Americans living paycheck to paycheck, rising food prices can be an especially difficult financial challenge.

• Grocery prices are particularly vulnerable to outside and difficult-to-control forces, such as climate change and geopolitical happenings.

Zoom in: Among the metro areas with newly published inflation data, other large increases included Washington with a 1.6% increase.

• Chicago had among the lowest increases, at 0.8% between November and January.

The big picture: Mark Schneider, CEO of global food giant Nestlé, recently predicted that the price of staple foods will keep rising this year.

• "We are still in a situation where we're repairing our gross margin and, like all the consumers around the world, we've been hit by inflation and now we're trying to repair the damage that has been done," Schneider told reporters, per CNN.

Yes, but: The retail price of one key foodstuff — eggs — is expected to drop after a collapse in once-elevated wholesale prices.

The bottom line: While inflation had appeared to be cooling off broadly speaking, experts are warning that price increases are still possible, even likely — like aftershocks following an earthquake.

• "No one said disinflation would be a smooth ride," Robert Frick, an economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, wrote in a recent note, as Axios' Neil Irwin and Courtenay Brown reported.

Editor's note: This article was corrected to reflect that the quote from Mark Schneider of Nestlé came from a call with reporters, per CNN.