Brian Wesbury, chief economist at First Trust Advisors, reacted to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's statement that he would not resign even if President-elect Trump asked him to “make money.”
Inflation rose slightly in October while prices remained high for consumers, giving Federal Reserve policymakers more data to consider ahead of next month's meeting. Ta.
The Labor Department said Wednesday that the Consumer Price Index (CPI), a broad measure of the prices of daily necessities such as gasoline, food and rent, rose 0.2% in October from the previous month and 2.6% from a year earlier. .
Economists surveyed by LSEG expected inflation to reach 0.2% in October and rise to an annual rate of 2.6%. The annual figure was up compared to last month, when the headline rate was 2.4%, but the monthly price increase was unchanged from September.
So-called core prices, which exclude more volatile measures of gasoline and food to better assess price trends, rose 0.3% on a monthly basis in October and 3.3% from a year earlier. There were no changes compared to last month's measurements. .
Consumer prices in October rose 2.6% year-on-year. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images/Getty Images)
The report showed signs of continuing inflationary pressures in the U.S. economy, despite progress over the past year in bringing inflation closer to the Federal Reserve's 2% goal.
High inflation is putting severe economic pressure on most American households, forcing them to pay for necessities like food and rent. The price hikes are particularly targeted at low-income Americans. That's because they tend to spend more of their already stretched salaries on necessities, and therefore have less flexibility to save money.
More than half of the CPI increase was due to housing prices, which rose 0.4% month-on-month in October, while food prices rose 0.2% and energy prices were flat. The rise in core CPI contributed to the 2.7% increase in used car and truck prices compared to September.
Food prices rose 0.2% on a monthly basis and 2.1% year-on-year, while non-home food prices rose 3.8% over the period.
Energy prices fell 4.9% year-on-year, and gasoline prices fell 12.4%. However, electricity prices have increased by 4% and city gas services by 4.5%.
Shelter prices also increased by 4.9% over last year, while the cost of transportation services increased by 8.2% and the cost of medical services by 3.8% during this period. Both rose by 0.4% on a month-on-month basis.
