Inflation accelerated again in September, to 0.4% from August, when it fell to 0.3%, according to the CPI published by the Labor Department.
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US consumers faced renewed price hikes in September, rekindling inflation concerns as leaders around the world grapple with supply issues.
After two months of moderation, inflation accelerated again in September, to 0.4% compared to August, when it had fallen to 0.3%, according to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) released on Wednesday. by the Department of Labor.
More than half of this increase is due to food and shelter, the statement said. A significant share also comes from energy, the prices of which continue to climb (+ 1.3% over one month).
The acceleration in inflation is also marked over one year, since the price increase is 5.4% compared to September 2020, against 5.3% between August 2020 and August 2021.
The effect of the Delta variant, which slowed American growth this summer, is felt on the figures: thus, it is the prices of food in stores, and not in restaurants, which increase the most (+1.2 %).
On the other hand, the prices of plane tickets have fallen, as have those of clothes and used cars.
Transient
This rebound is rekindling concerns about a more lasting surge in prices than expected, while the return to 2% annual inflation, a level considered optimal, seems to be receding month after month.
In the medium term, price increases will moderate, with “faster productivity growth,” said Ian Shepherdson, economist for Pantheon Economics.
But in the meantime, he warns, the data “will seem to threaten, or actually threaten, the” transient “aspect of this inflation.
The IMF anticipates a lull in energy prices “by the end of the first quarter” 2022, and, globally, sees a spike in inflation at the end of 2021, before stabilizing by the middle of the year. next year.
Households are seeing their purchasing power decline, and politicians are trying to reassure them. “I think it is transitory, but I do not mean that these pressures will disappear in a month or two,” said Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Tuesday.
Because the global supply difficulties, which have been causing delays and shortages for months, are largely responsible for these price increases, especially for new cars and home furnishings.
Delays and shortages
“The price increases resulting from bottlenecks (…) in a context of strong demand, will keep the inflation rate at a high level, because the imbalances between supply and demand will be resolved only gradually” , commented Kathy Bostjancic, economist for Oxford Economics.
If this does not mark “the beginning of an upward spiral in wages and prices”, it nevertheless anticipates annual inflation above 3% until mid-2022.
These disturbances are slowing global growth, however, the International Monetary Fund warned on Tuesday.
The subject will be at the heart of the G7 Finance on Wednesday, which meets in Washington. The White House has announced an extension of night and weekend work in the Port of Los Angeles, to reduce the queues that slow the delivery of many products.
In the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, where 40% of containers destined for the United States arrive, “nearly 100 ships (are) moored outside (…), awaiting unloading of goods”, a detailed Tuesday Ms. Yellen.
But do not worry, she assured, the Christmas presents will arrive on time at the foot of the tree, because “there is an abundant supply of goods”.
An official of the American Central Bank (Fed), Mary Daly, however, was not so sure Sunday: “people buy now and they are often told that they will not be able to get” on time the products.
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