The Federal Reserve on Wednesday is widely expected to cut its key rate by a quarter point to about 4.1%, which would be the first reduction since last December.

What was once a cheap source of protein has become a luxury breakfast food. Egg prices have soared over the past year, as the worst avian flu outbreak in U.S. history has infected more than 57 million chickens.

Retail sales jumped 3.8% from December to January, the Commerce Department said Wednesday, a much bigger increase than economists had expected. Though inflation helped boost that figure, most of January’s gain reflected more purchases, not higher prices.

Facing what could be the biggest challenge to the American economy since the Great Depression of the 1930s, Congress is now urgently trying put together a relief package to keep U.S. households afloat.