Minneapolis
CNN
—
The economy was top of mind for voters in the midterm elections, exit polls showed, adding even more weight to a highly anticipated inflation report due out on Thursday.
The Consumer Price Index for October, which measures the change in price of everything from pork chops to plane tickets, will provide the latest insight on whether Americans saw any relief last month from the current bout of historically high prices.
Economists estimate the pace of inflation likely slowed somewhat in October — but nowhere near enough for the Federal Reserve to tap the brakes on the aggressive rate hikes it has rolled out in its battle to cool the economy.
“We’re definitely not there yet,” said Stephen Juneau, a US economist for Bank of America Securities. “I don’t think this report will do much to ease concerns for the everyday person.”
Consensus estimates on Refinitiv put annual inflation at 8% in October, which would be a slower pace of increase than the 8.2% seen in September’s reading and the lowest year-over-year increase since February.
However, higher energy prices likely pushed up monthly inflation by 0.6%.
Core CPI, which doesn’t include the volatile food and energy categories, is expected to have dropped to a 6.5% rate of increase for the 12-month period ended in October, down from 6.6% a month…
