Trimming the fat: inflation finally hitting profit margins

By STAN CHOE
AP Busines Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Corporate profits have withstood raging inflation over much of the last year, but those good times may be ending. Profits stayed fat even as companies’ costs rose thanks to one simple trick: Businesses boosted the prices they charged customers by more than their own costs rose. Now, though, more companies are seeing their costs rise faster than their revenues. Analysts say even faster declines in profit margins may be on the way in 2023 given how fragile the economy is and how sticky their rising costs seem to be.