The consumer price index rose 0.4 percent from August to September, which is higher than expected.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The new inflation numbers underscore what millions of Americans have worried about for months — everything from gas to groceries to housing is becoming more expensive.
The consumer price index rose 0.4 percent from August to September, which is higher than expected. One of the everyday items where costs increased the most was groceries, prices for which increased by 0.8 percent.
ABC News correspondent Alexis Christoforous said: “This is a real burden and the cost of living has really gone up. While wages have also increased, we all know they are not keeping pace with inflation.”
One of the few places where prices started falling in September was at the gas pumps, but even those prices are starting to rise again in October.
Gas tanks are expected to become increasingly expensive to fill up after OPEC announced it would cut oil production by two million barrels a day.
The inflation numbers all but guarantee that the Fed will raise its short-term interest rate by a three-quarter point for the fourth consecutive month when it meets early next month.
“Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, he said we will raise interest rates and keep them high until we see real evidence that inflation is coming down. This report today certainly doesn’t show us that,” said Christoforous.
Now there was good news in Thursday’s report.
The prices of some physical goods, including clothing, used cars and furniture, have actually fallen over the past month. Thanks in large part to solving supply chain issues.
In the housing market, lenders wasted no time raising interest rates.
Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the average for a 30-year fixed home loan is 6.9 percent, down from just 3 percent at this point last year.
Sen. Mitch McConnell released a statement in response to the new inflation report, blaming President Biden and Democratic lawmakers for what he calls “runaway inflation.”
He specifically evoked President Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan.
“In just the last few months, with inflation already raging, Democrats spent hundreds of billions of dollars more, raised taxes on the brink of a recession, and decided to make inflation worse for working-class families to fund grad school debt for doctors and attorneys,” McConnell said in his statement.
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