Food and rent prices drive US inflation spike in September - NewsBreak

The US inflation spike is not over, according to government data released Wednesday that showed prices for food and rents increasing in the world's largest economy last month, underscoring the complications Washington policymakers face as they guide the country's bounceback from the pandemic. The Labor Department's consumer price index (CPI) rose 5.4 percent, seasonally adjusted, in September compared to the same month a year ago. From August, it rose just above analysts' forecasts to 0.4 percent. Food and housing prices accounted for more than half of the overall gain, the Labor Department said, while the impact of rising global energy prices was also apparent in the data that some economists warned could indicate inflation is on track to overstay its welcome. "The pick up in shelter costs is something to watch as it could offset some of the slowdown in inflation that occurs as current supply chain disruptions are resolved," Diane Swonk of Grant Thornton said on Twitter.