Personal Economics 101

With   inflation   running hot in October, American consumers paid slightly more for most goods and services compared to the previous month, and far more compared to a year ago. The Labor Department’s consumer price index (CPI), a key inflation gauge that measures how much Americans pay for goods and services, rose 0.9 percent over the month in October and 6.2 percent over the year, with the annual figure reflecting the highest pace of price hikes in nearly 31 years. The agency’s report ( pdf ), released Nov. 10, breaks down how much prices have increased for certain key services and goods, including gas, food prices, electricity, and used cars. Seasonally adjusted figures are only available for the month-over-month comparison, while seasonally unadjusted data is available in both over-the-year and over-the-month formats. Gasoline : 49.6 percent year-over-year and 3.7 percent month-over-month seasonally unadjusted; 6.1 percent month-over-month, seasonally adjust...

Six months ago, any inflation was supposed to be transitory, meaning just temporary. But it seems to persist. I also think it's very strange that the government also reports inflation minues "food and energy." Do these people not live in the real world? Anyone know of a family budget that doesn't have a large part taken by "food and energy?" Anyway, I digress. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.9% month-over-month (m/m) in October, above the Bloomberg consensus estimate of a 0.6% increase. The core rate, which strips out food and energy, increased 0.6% m/m, above the 0.4% expected, and following September's unadjusted 0.2% rise. Y/Y, prices were 6.2% higher for the headline rate, north of forecasted 5.9% rise and the quickest acceleration in 30 years. The core rate was up 4.6% y/y, above the projected 4.3% gain and August's unrevised 4.0% increase. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said that the monthly all-items increase was broad based, and t...