US Inflation Finally Offers Relief, But There’s Still a Long Way to Go
- Fed gets room to moderate its aggressive interest-rate hikes
- Rent prices may help inflation persist at high levels
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A cooling in US consumer prices offered cheer to households, investors and Federal Reserve officials, but there’s still a long way before high inflation becomes history.
At 7.7%, annual inflation in October was the slowest since January -- before the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine that triggered a worldwide surge in commodities and pump prices. Even more importantly for the Fed, a closely watched measure that excludes food and energy decelerated by more than economists anticipated.