Inflation in the United States is currently 8.2%, a tenth of a percent higher than anticipated but lower than last month’s 8.3%, according to newly released economic data.
The Federal Reserve’s future policy, will be informed by the key consumer report, including interest rates, which reveals that inflation is slowing. However, it is reported to be more slowly than anticipated.
This could lead to more interest rate increases from the central bank very soon.
After two months of decline, data from the Producer Price Index (PPI) published yesterday showed that the rate of PPI inflation was 8.5% through September, up 0.4% from August.
According to Gabriel Santos of JPMorgan Asset Management, the marginal increase demonstrated that the economy is still in the early days of its inflationary deceleration.
She said on CNBC on Wednesday, “I think the data this morning just emphasizes that we’re still seeing the early days of a deceleration process in inflation with very mixed news.”
Although the PPI may provide some hints, some commentators think that nobody, including the Fed, is aware of what the CPI numbers might indicate.
They [the Fed] don’t have much credibility, said Stephanie Link, Chief Investment Strategist for Hightower, on the same program. They were lagging behind. Rate increases ought to have started a year ago.
