Inflation is cooling—but prices are still up 7.7% since last year
Inflation went down faster than expected in October, dropping to a year-over-year rate of 7.7%, according to new Labor Bureau data published Thursday morning.
Last month, prices for goods and services increased by 0.4%, which lines up with what big banks and economists were expecting. “The pervasiveness of price increases remains problematic,” says Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate.
Inflation went down faster than expected in October, dropping to a year -over- year rate of 7.7%, according to new Labor Bureau data published Thursday morning .
Inflation is down from its 9.1% June year -over- year peak, but still nowhere near the Federal Reserve’s benchmark target rate of 2%.
Last month , prices for goods and services increased by 0.4%, which lines up with what big banks and economists were expecting. However, core inflation — which measures all items except volatile food and gas prices — came in lower than expected, with a 0.3% monthly increase. Many big banks expected core inflation to increase by 0.4% or 0.5%.
Despite beating expectations, inflation remains high, with the cost of necessities posting steady gains .
“The pervasiveness of price increases remains problematic,” says Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate. “In categories that are necessities — shelter, food, and energy — we continue to see large and consistent increases. Any meaningful relief for household budgets is still somewhere over the horizon.”The costs for gas, food and shelter continue to rise due to a variety of factors, including supply chain issues, labor disruptions and other events like the war in Ukraine.Shelter accounts for over half of the overall monthly increase, rising 0.8% after steady gains of 0.7% in the two previous months. Energy prices surged in October with the price of gas up 4% and fuel oil surging 19.8% after declining the previous month.Here’s how much prices have increased over the past year for certain household goods and services, according to the Labor Department:
