Newsroom

October 13, 2017

Consumer prices continue to rise, up 0.5% in September

Overall consumer prices rose 0.5 percent in September – the strongest growth since January. NAFCU Chief Economist and Vice President of Research Curt Long attributed the increase to soaring gasoline prices.

"Refining activities were disrupted by Hurricane Harvey, which led to a 13.1 percent surge in gasoline prices during the month," Long said in a NAFCU Macro Data Flash report. "This marks the largest gas price increase since 2009 and accounts for about three-quarters of September's overall [consumer price index] increase."

Long noted core inflation growth remained weak in September, "to the dismay of Fed officials looking for evidence of stronger inflation ahead of a likely rate hike in December." However, he still expects the Fed to move forward with a quarter-point rate increase because of a strong labor market.

Data published Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed overall consumer prices rose 0.5 percent in September. Year over year, the overall consumer price index (CPI) rose 2.2 percent in September after showing 1.9 percent growth in August.

Core prices (excluding food and energy costs) increased 0.1 percent in September compared with the previous month. Year-over-year core CPI growth remained at 1.7 percent.

Energy prices rose 6.1 percent in September – a significant jump from August and the largest gain since 2009. From a year ago, energy prices were up 10.2 percent. Food prices increased 0.1 percent in September, the same as August. Year over year, food prices were up 1.2 percent.