Inflation, measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), rose slightly hotter than expected in the month of September. Prices increased by 0.2% month-over-month (0.1% was expected) and 2.4% annually (2.3% was expected).
Yahoo Finance anchor Madison Mills joins Brad Smith on Wealth to highlight the biggest takeaways from this month’s inflation report. She showcases the categories where prices took the biggest swings higher and lower — while auto insurance rose by 16.3% over the last year, gasoline prices nearly fell by just as much — and compares the rate of wage growth amid inflation.
To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Wealth here.
This post was written by Luke Carberry Mogan.
Inflation coming in hotter than expected last month to take a closer look at some of the categories with the biggest price fluctuations.
I’m joined by Catalyst co anchor Madison Mills.
Hey, Matty.
Hey, Brad.
Thanks so much.
So I want to pull up a chart here and show you guys the biggest price increases over the last 12 months.
Here, if we can take a look, you’ve got auto insurance up 16.3%.
Over the last 12 months, you’ve also got rent up 4.8 percent.
That is also mirroring housing cost, which are also up over 4% here.
But then you got the good news, right?
Your rental cars going down in price over the last 12 months by almost 7%.
And you’ve also got gasoline prices absolutely plummeting, down 15.3%.
They were down nearly 2% over the last month.
So that’s good news in terms of your gas prices.
But things like auto insurance really continuing to be sticky when it comes to inflation.
That is partially because we’ve seen a big uptick in car accidents and of course, rent and housing, continuing to be the biggest headache for the Federal Reserve.
We know that so many individuals across the country are stuck in their mortgages, their mortgages that were lower as we added into the pandemic before the feds rate hiking cycle.
That has led to a decrease in housing supply, which is crunched demand as well because there just aren’t enough houses to go around.
So that is continued to be a challenge not only for consumers looking to buy a home who can’t afford one, but for the Federal Reserve.
OK, so inflation absolutely catches attention.
It’s entered into the brunch conversations for so many of our friends out there.
But what about wages?
How have they been keeping up with inflation?
Right, as we continue to see inflation going up, if wages can outpace the rate of change in inflation, then you’re not going to feel it as much.
So I want to pull up a chart here.
This looks at wages growing faster than inflation here, and this is really important to note, particularly because wages have been outpacing inflation in terms of growth for all of the last 17 months here.
So that is going to be hugely helpful in terms of just helping consumer sentiment, helping people feel better about the economy We know from the last non farm payrolls print, the average hourly earnings were up 4/10 of a percent month over month year.
Over year, they were up over 4%.
So if we can continue to see wage gains outpacing inflation, that would be helpful.
The Federal Reserve in terms of helping consumer sentiment.
But the question is whether or not the labour market as a whole is going to be able to withstand some of these macro economic pressures.
We had those initial jobless claims coming in hotter than expected this morning, and we know that that’s likely only going to continue due to some of the idiosyncratic challenges we have with the Boeing strike.
The Hurricanes.
So a lot of potential pain to come for the labour market.
All right, a lot of keep tabs on here.
Thanks so much.
Appreciate it.