The inflation rate in the United States fell againafter having risen or remained stagnant since June, and prices fell half a point in October, a drop that places the indicator at 3.2%the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this Tuesday.
In monthly terms, consumer prices remained unchanged compared to Septemberwhile underlying inflation, a key data that the Federal Reserve (Fed) analyzes for its interest rate decisions, fell one tenth year-on-year, to 4%.
Prices thus return to their streak of declines after they rose in July and August and remained stable in September – in year-on-year terms – at a time when the Fed is closely observing the effects of the eleven rate hikes on this indicator. of interest that has been carried out since March 2022 to control prices.
Despite the almost general drop in prices, the housing index continued to increase in October, three tenths, and accumulated a year-on-year increase of 6.7%.
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The energy index, on the other hand, fell 2.5% during October and is down 4.5% compared to the same month a year ago, with a 5% decrease in the price of gasoline (-5.3% year-on-year). The food index, for its part, increased 0.3% in October and is growing 3.3% year-on-year.
In monthly terms, core inflation rose two tenths in October, although year-on-year it continues its downward streak and fell one tenth, to the aforementioned 4%.
At its last meeting held two weeks ago, The Fed decided to pause interest rate hikesthe second consecutive respite after the eleven increases it has made since March of last year with the objective of bringing inflation down to 2%.
He did not rule out, however, that there may be new increases, which will depend on macroeconomic data such as inflation.
From March 2022 until June of this year, the Fed’s federal open market committee – the body in charge of monetary policy – decided to raise interest rates.
After the pause in June, they increased them again in July and in both September and October the rates remained unchanged, in a range of 5.25% and 5.5%, their highest level since 2001.
Inflation is already well below the peak it reached in June 2022when it was placed at 9.1%, but still at levels that are not those desired by the American regulator, which wants to prevent it from stagnating at a figure much higher than 2%.
All this in a context in which the United States registered an unexpected rebound in its gross domestic product in the third quarter, which grew 1.2%, with an annual rate of 4.9%, according to the latest official data.
Regarding the labor market, another of the key data that the Fed analyzes to decide possible increases, job creation slowed down considerably in October to 150,000 new jobs, 147,000 less than those generated a month before, and the unemployment rate rose one tenth to 3.9%.
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