{"id":2694,"date":"2026-10-14T23:04:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T18:04:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2694"},"modified":"2026-10-14T23:04:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T18:04:15","slug":"us-consumer-inflation-hotter-than-expected-as-midterms-loom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2694","title":{"rendered":"US consumer inflation hotter than expected as midterms loom"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

US consumer inflation was hotter than anticipated in September, government data showed on Wednesday, as Washington\u2019s war with Tehran pushed energy costs higher, deepening strains on American households ahead of next month\u2019s midterm elections.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The uptick underscores voter worries over high costs of living, and comes as President Donald Trump is campaigning in US states to shore up support for his Republican party as it tries to retain control of Congress.<\/p>\n

The consumer price index (CPI) rose 3.7 per cent year-on-year in September, the Department of Labour said, more than the 3.6 per cent analysts forecast according to MarketWatch.<\/p>\n

This was a notable acceleration from 3.4 per cent in August, in one of the last major economic reports before the November 3 vote.<\/p>\n

Inflation picked up pace on a month-on-month basis too, accelerating from 0.4 per cent in August to 0.6 per cent last month.<\/p>\n

The higher-than-expected reading has left analysts divided over the odds of a second straight interest rate hike at the US central bank\u2019s upcoming October 27-28 policy meeting.<\/p>\n

Economist James Knightley at ING noted that Federal Reserve officials John Williams, Philip Jefferson and Christopher Waller have suggested \u201cthat we don\u2019t need to see back-to-back interest rate increases,\u201d instead leaning towards \u201ca slow and steady\u201d approach.<\/p>\n

He expects the Fed will want to be \u201ccareful and cautious in terms of its policy tightening.\u201d<\/p>\n

But traders now see a 51.5 per cent chance that the Fed will raise rates by another 25 basis points in October, according to CME Group\u2019s FedWatch tool. The probability was around 22 per cent a day prior.<\/p>\n

Already, industries sensitive to interest rates, like housing, are under pressure from steeper borrowing costs.<\/p>\n

Yields on US government bonds spiked after the inflation report. The 10-year Treasury yield, which influences rates on mortgage and auto loans, rose to 5.3 per cent from 5.2 per cent.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Spillovers<\/h3>\n

Gasoline costs accounted for more than half of the monthly CPI jump, surging 9.1 per cent in September, Wednesday\u2019s report said.<\/p>\n

Energy prices have soared since the United States and Israel attacked Iran in late February, prompting Tehran to block off the Strait of Hormuz, a vital route for oil and gas shipments.<\/p>\n

Average prices at US gasoline pumps have surged more than 45 per cent since the start of the Middle East war to $4.33 per gallon, according to AAA motor club data.<\/p>\n

Diesel prices have soared even more, by 67.7 per cent, boosting the cost of transporting goods and threatening further spillovers to consumers.<\/p>\n

\u201cAgain, the Iran-US conflict has led to higher motor fuel costs that everyone is experiencing,\u201d ING\u2019s Knightley told AFP.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe US is also seeing substantial increases in airline fares,\u201d he said, adding that this will likely contribute to additional price pressures.<\/p>\n

Excluding volatile food and energy prices, core CPI was up 2.6 per cent from a year ago.<\/p>\n

Although high gasoline and diesel prices drove about half of the September spike in inflation, \u201cit\u2019s starting to spill into other areas,\u201d warned Heather Long, chief economist at the Navy Federal Credit Union.<\/p>\n

\u201cAirfares, used cars and recreation all had big price jumps,\u201d she added. \u201cAmericans are seeing their pay totally wiped out by inflation. That\u2019s been the case for half a year now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Long expects that another interest rate hike will be needed, likely in December.<\/p>\n

With the underlying US economy remaining strong as massive spending linked to the artificial intelligence buildout boosts demand for chips and labour, economists also caution that higher costs could continue filtering through to households.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

US consumer inflation was hotter than anticipated in September, government data showed on Wednesday, as Washington\u2019s war with Tehran pushed energy costs higher, deepening strains on American households ahead of next month\u2019s midterm elections. The uptick underscores voter worries over high costs of living, and comes as President Donald Trump is campaigning in US states to shore up support for his Republican party as it tries to retain control of Congress. The consumer price index (CPI) rose 3.7 per cent year-on-year in September, the Department of Labour said, more than…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2694\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}