Thursday's highly anticipated Consumer Price Index (CPI) report surprised to the upside. Headline CPI rose 0.4% in September, 0.2 percentage points higher than expected by the Bloomberg consensus. Over the year, the CPI is up 8.2%, a slight step down from August's 8.3% reading. Even with some easing on a year-ago basis, the details of the report suggest inflation still has plenty of momentum and remains broad-based.
Gas prices slid 4.9% last month, helping to offset some solid increases seen elsewhere in the consumption basket. Food price growth remains a major pressure point. The food CPI rose 0.8% in September, trailing only modestly behind the 1.0% average pace over the prior three months. On the bright side, we suspect food inflation will not worsen from here. Food-related commodity prices have rolled over, and in the separately-reported Producer Price Index, transportation and warehousing costs slid for the third consecutive month in September, providing scope for disinflation in food, and goods prices more broadly, in the coming months.
Excluding food and energy, the core CPI rose 0.6% in September, matching August's pace and pushing the year-ago rate up to a fresh 40-year high of 6.6%. Core goods prices were flat over the month, with notable declines in used vehicles (-1.1%), education & communication goods (-0.6%) and apparel (-0.3%). Core services, on the other hand, rose a blistering 0.8%. Strength was broad-based, with sturdy increases in transportation services (1.9%), medical care (1.0%) and owners equivalent rent (0.8%). In short, services inflation continues to gain traction, while goods inflation is showing signs of slowing. For insight on what the latest consumer price data mean for the FOMC's thinking, please see this week's Interest Rate Watch.
This Week's State Of The Economy - What Is Ahead? - 11 September 2020
Wells Fargo Economics & Financial Report / Sep 14, 2020
In the holiday-shortened week, analysts’ attention remained on the progress of the labor market. Recent jobless claims data remain stubbornly high and point to a slowing jobs rebound.
This Week's State Of The Economy - What Is Ahead? - 30 July 2021
Wells Fargo Economics & Financial Report / Aug 11, 2021
Despite a few misses on the headline numbers, economic data this week highlighted a theme of demand continuing to outstrip supply and ongoing slack in the labor market.
Where Will That $2 Trillion Come From Anyway?
Wells Fargo Economics & Financial Report / Apr 01, 2020
Net Treasury issuance is set to surge in the coming weeks and months. At present, we look for the federal budget deficit to be $2.4 trillion in FY 2020 and $1.7 trillion in FY 2021.
28 January 2021 Economic Outlook Report
Wells Fargo Economics & Financial Report / Feb 08, 2021
In our recently released second report in this series of economic risks, we focused on the potential of demand-side factors to lead to significantly higher U.S. inflation in the next few years.
This Week's State Of The Economy - What Is Ahead? - 30 September 2022
Wells Fargo Economics & Financial Report / Oct 03, 2022
Just as I know the folks in Florida are resilient and will recover in time, incoming data indicate a slowing yet resilient economy.
This Week's State Of The Economy - What Is Ahead? - 25 September 2020
Wells Fargo Economics & Financial Report / Sep 28, 2020
Existing home sales rose 2.4% to a 6.0-million unit annual pace. The surge in sales further depleted inventories and pushed prices sharply higher.
This Week's State Of The Economy - What Is Ahead? - 17 December 2021
Wells Fargo Economics & Financial Report / Dec 21, 2021
7 Interest Rate Watch for more detail. In other news, retail sales data disappointed as higher prices factor into spending and industrial activity continued to recover but remains beset by supply issues.
This Week's State Of The Economy - What Is Ahead? - 23 July 2021
Wells Fargo Economics & Financial Report / Jul 30, 2021
In the biggest financial news this week not connected to college football conference realignment, July\'s NAHB Housing Market Index slipped one point to 80.
This Week's State Of The Economy - What Is Ahead? - 03 February 2023
Wells Fargo Economics & Financial Report / Feb 04, 2023
During January, payrolls jumped by 517K, the unemployment rate fell to 3.4% and average hourly earnings rose by 0.3%. The FOMC raised the fed funds target range by 25 bps to 4.5%-4.75% this week.
This Week's State Of The Economy - What Is Ahead? - 20 May 2022
Wells Fargo Economics & Financial Report / May 29, 2022
U.S. retail sales topped expectations in April, while industrial production also grew more rapidly than economists expected. Data on housing starts, home sales and homebuilder sentiment, however, showed tentative signs of cooling.
