Inflation Nears 4 Percent as Grocery Prices Rise and Gas Prices Ease

Inflation data for October are out, as measured by the , and they are once again not good. Average prices rose by 0.4 percent in a single month — which would be 4.9 percent if annualized for a yearly pace — and by 3.8 percent over the past eleven months. (Because of a government shutdown, the CPI is only available for last November, not October. Since last September, the CPI has risen by 4.1 percent.)

Inflation has picked up since the began. Yet fuel prices are no longer the chief driver. According to the Washington Post, “Excluding volatile food and energy increases, core inflation was about the same high pace as the prior two months,” at 0.3 percent (or 3.7 percent annualized).

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John R. Puri

John R. Puri is the Thomas L. Rhodes Fellow at National Review.

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Inflation data for October are out, as measured by the , and they are once again not good. Average prices rose by 0.4 percent in a single month — which would be 4.9 percent if annualized for a yearly pace — and by 3.8 percent over the past eleven months. (Because of a government shutdown, the CPI is only available for last November, not October. Since last September, the CPI has risen by 4.1 percent.)

Inflation has picked up since the began. Yet fuel prices are no longer the chief driver. According to the Washington Post, “Excluding volatile food and energy increases, core inflation was about the same high pace as the prior two months,” at 0.3 percent (or 3.7 percent annualized).