It’s déjà vu for grocery shoppers, as the price of those Grade A eggs has spiked in recent months, just two years after egg prices soared to record highs.

The average retail price of eggs in the U.S. has risen 38% since November 2023, according to consumer price index data issued Wednesday. Prices rose 8% last month alone.

A carton of a dozen large Grade A eggs cost $3.65 in November, up from $2.14 a year earlier, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

There are two primary reasons for the surge: bird flu, which has reduced egg supply, and the strong consumer demand that’s typical around the winter holiday season, according to economists and market analysts.

“There’s a very real chance we could flirt with record highs” for prices, said Brian Moscogiuri, vice president of Eggs Unlimited, an egg supplier.

Grade A egg prices peaked at $4.82 a dozen in January 2023, having jumped from $1.93 in January 2022.

At a time of high pandemic-era inflation, eggs were a standout, with an annual inflation rate of 60% in calendar-year 2022, according to CPI data. They even entered the zeitgeist: Pop star Taylor Swift told comedian Trevor Noah at the Grammy Awards in February 2023 that her fans would “get on it” to help lower egg prices.

More from Personal Finance:
Economy faces ‘some potential storms’ in 2025
Here’s the inflation breakdown for November 2024 — in one chart
Economists have ‘really had it wrong’ about recession

About 33 million commercial egg layers have been killed by bird flu in 2024, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

That has “caused an egg supply shortage,” said Ryan Hojnowski, an egg analyst at Expana, an agricultural market research firm.

Roughly half of the commercial egg layer deaths for 2024 — about 15 million birds — have occurred since Oct. 15, according to CDC data. Wholesale egg prices are up 97% since mid-October, according to Expana.

“If you have one infection, chances are that d— near all the birds are infected, or will be infected in a very short time,” said Andrew Novakovic, a professor of agricultural economics at Cornell SC Johnson College of Business.

For one, bird flu’s staying power is unclear. There have been recent outbreaks in U.S. dairy cows, and “several recent human cases in U.S. dairy and poultry workers,” the CDC said. As of Dec. 11, the current public health risk was “low,” however, the CDC website said.  

The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Friday issued a federal order requiring testing of U.S. milk supply for bird flu, to help track and contain the virus.

“Like any infectious disease, it’s a little hard to accurately forecast how it’s going to progress,” Novakovic said.

The economy is doing “exceptionally well” as President-elect Donald Trump gets ready to enter the White House, according to Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi.

Zandi, speaking at the Consumer Federation of America’s financial services conference on Wednesday, noted some of the glowing areas: Gross domestic product has been growing at around 3%, productivity and business formation rates are strong and the stock market is up.

“The economy can weather a lot of storms,” Zandi said.

But, he added, “I do think there are some potential storms coming” next year under the new administration.

Zandi expects Trump to act quickly on deporting immigrants and implementing tariffs, two moves that could have profound impacts on the U.S. economy.

“I believe President Trump is going to do what he said he’ll do on the campaign trail,” Zandi said. “He’s going to be quite aggressive in pursuing the policies.”

Immigration has played a big role in the economy’s strength, Zandi said.

Others agree. “Recent immigrants have flowed disproportionately into the parts of the labor force that were particularly tight in 2022, contributing to labor supply in places where it was most badly needed,” Goldman Sachs analysts wrote in a note to clients in May.

Meanwhile, tariffs create “a whole lot of uncertainty for businesses,” Zandi said. As a result, they could lead to job losses.

Tariffs are also likely to impact people’s spending, he said.

“It’s going to mean higher costs for consumers, it’s a tax increase,” Zandi said.

Trump‘s universal tariff proposals could cause prices to skyrocket on clothing, toys, furniture, household appliances, footwear and travel goods, according to a recent report from the National Retail Federation.

Trump has said he would impose a 10% or 20% tariff on all imports across the board.

More from Personal Finance:
Here’s what to know before taking your first required minimum distribution
Here’s the inflation breakdown for November 2024 — in one chart
‘Unverifiable income’ can limit your mortgage options — here’s how to get around it

The NRF found that the impact of the tariffs would be “dramatic” double-digit percentage price spikes in nearly all six retail categories that the trade group examined.

For example, the cost of clothing could rise between 12.5% and 20.6%, the analysis found. That means an $80 pair of men’s jeans would instead cost between $90 and $96.

These new prices would squeeze consumer budgets, especially for low-income households that spend triple as much of their monthly budgets on apparel as high-income households spend, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

For some investors, bigger pretax accounts can be “a tax nightmare in retirement” when it’s time for RMDs, certified financial planner Derek Williams with Veratis Advisors in Cary, North Carolina previously told CNBC.

Pretax RMDs boost your adjusted gross income, which can cause higher Medicare Part B and Part D premiums, among other tax consequences, he said.

Your RMD is based on your pre-tax retirement balance as of Dec. 31 from the previous year. That means your 2024 RMD uses year-end figures from 2023.

For 2024, the calculation divides your 2023 pretax balance by an IRS life expectancy factor.  

If you skip an RMD or don’t take the full amount by the deadline, you can expect a 25% excise tax on the amount not withdrawn. The penalty falls to 10% if the RMD is “timely corrected within two years,” according to the IRS.

The agency could waive the RMD penalty if the shortfall was due to “reasonable error” and you take “reasonable steps” to correct it. But you must file Form 5329 with a letter of explanation.

If you need to take an RMD and also want to plan a year-end gift to charity, it’s possible to accomplish both with a qualified charitable distribution, or QCD, experts say.

QCDs are transfers from an individual retirement account to a non-profit organization, which “counts against your RMD but doesn’t get added to your taxable income,” according to CFP Michael Lofley with HBKS Wealth Advisors in Stuart, Florida.

Plus, you can use the strategy to score a tax break for charitable gifts, even if you don’t itemize deductions on your tax return, said Lofley, who is also a certified public accountant.

There’s been a higher standard deduction since 2018, and only about 10% of taxpayers itemized tax breaks on 2021 returns, according to the most recent IRS filing data.