I’m not gonna sit here and lie in your face and act like everything’s been smooth sailing. It’s been hard out here and uncertain for a lot of folks ever since Covid-19 touched down—the recent wave of inflation has kept that train chugging along. However, there is at least a glimmer of hope.
The consumer price index, which measures the cost of goods and services, rose slightly less than was anticipated for the month of October. It was expected to rise 0.6 percent, but instead only saw a 0.4 percent rise. In comparison to October last year, it rose 7.7 percent instead of the 8 percent economists originally predicted. This is the lowest reading of inflation since January. With this news, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1,200 points yesterday, or more than 3.7 percent.
We are, however, not completely smooth sailing. “Any meaningful relief for household budgets is still somewhere over the horizon,” Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate, told CNN.
“In categories that are necessities—shelter, food, and energy—we continue to see large and consistent increases. The areas posting declines are for the most part either irregular or more discretionary in nature—airfare, used cars, and apparel.”
Sure, the pace is slowing on inflation, but there is some bad news, too. Despite the slight decrease relative to expectations, the future outlook is murky, and of course, inflation will probably never stop. The question is whether it will stay this course and correct itself along the lines of this global crisis and meet people with their wages or not. This dip is indeed a good sign, but experts say a meaningful change probably isn’t on the horizon any time soon.
H. Drew Blackburn