Core Inflation Hits New Four-Decade High
U.S. consumer inflation eased slightly in September from a year earlier, but price increases excluding energy and food accelerated to a new four-decade high. The Labor Department on Thursday said that the consumer-price index, a measure of what consumers pay for goods and services, gained 8.2% in September from the same month a year ago, down from 8.3% in August. That was down from an annual increase of 8.5% in July and 9.1% in June, which was the highest inflation rate in four decades.
So-called core CPI, which excludes volatile energy and food prices, gained 6.6% in September from a year earlier, accelerating from 6.3% in August and marking the biggest increase since August 1982.
On a monthly basis, the core index rose 0.6% in September, the same as in August. Investors and policy makers follow core inflation closely as a reflection of broad, underlying inflation and as a predictor of future inflation.