Inflation Rates in The United States May be Slowing
Source：New York Times
From：Taiwan Trade Center, Chicago
Update Time：2022/12/05
New data shows inflation rates in October were slower than previously anticipated. The Consumer Price Index slowed to 7.7 percent gain in the year through October, less than the 7.9 percent that analyst expected and down significantly from 8.2 percent in September.
This new report indicated the Feds campaign to slow rapid inflation may be working. The strategy, has been an aggressive one. The central bank has raised interest rates from nearly zero to 4 percent in 2022. The goal, of these increases has been to decrease consumer and business demand and give the worlds stressed supply chain a chance to catch up.
The Fed emphasize that while their strategy may cause short term economic pains, it is necessary to drive down inflation. President Biden optimistically expressed the the central bank can slow down the economy without tipping it in to an outright recession.
“Today’s report shows that we are making progress on bringing inflation down, without giving up all of the progress we have made on economic growth and job creation,” Mr. Biden said in reference to this most recent October report.
The Fed, has not been as vocal about this perceived success in October. “A single month of moderate improvement in the data was not enough to make central bankers confident that still-rapid price increases will quickly fade, especially after more than a year and a half of stubborn inflation and frequent false dawns,” reports the New York Times.
The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco said during a question-and-answer session with the European Economics & Financial Centre, this data suggests the US is still “far from victory.” A number of central bank officials suggest that interest rates will still need to rise to a level where they are clearly weighing down the economy, even if at a slower pace. Once rates are high enough, officials expect to hold them there for some time.
All of this indicates, that despite some moderate short term success, the US economy is still on track for a long and uncertain road to reduce inflation rates.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/10/business/economy/october-inflation-data.html