U.S. inflation is likely to have subsided over the month of October, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg. This report comes as the Bureau of Labor Statistics is set to release its Consumer Price Index (CPI) for October on Thursday.
While the inflation is expected to have risen from a monthly increase of 0.4% to 0.6% in September, resulting in a year-over-year increase of 8.2%, this figure is believed to have cooled to 7.9% in October. Core CPI for October is expected to have increased at a monthly rate of 0.5% and 6.5% on a yearly basis.
Economists at the Bank of America have pinpointed shelter as being the primary driver of October’s inflation data, with housing costs comprising approximately one-third of the basket for consumer price inflation.
While the recent cooldown in inflation restored economists’ hopes that the Federal Reserve may decide to scale back its aggressive fiscal policy, Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell has confirmed that there is no intention to curb interest rates. “Restoring price stability will likely require maintaining a restrictive stance of policy for some time,” he stated.