Inflation came in hotter than expected in the final Labor Department report before the presidential election less than four weeks away.
The consumer price index, which measures the general cost of goods and services across the country, increased 0.2% in September when seasonally adjusted, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics released Thursday morning.
Eggs were 8.4% higher, nearly 40% more expensive than a year ago. Butter was 2.8% higher, nearly 8% more expensive than a year ago.
Energy prices fell 1.9% in September. Gasoline prices fell, but electricity and natural gas prices ticked up.
This bumped the annual inflation rate up to 2.4%. Both numbers were 0.1 percentage point higher than the Dow Jones expectations.
Meanwhile, jobless claims also jumped following Hurricane Helene’s devastation in North Carolina and several other areas. Unemployment filings hit 258,000 for the week ending October 5, the highest since last year at the beginning of August. This was 33,000 more jobless claims than the previous week and much higher than the predicted 230,000.
Food and housing prices especially jumped. Food saw a 0.4% rise, while shelter saw a 0.2% rise in cost.
The “core” index, which takes out the more volatile prices of food and gas, also ticked up more than expected, 0.3% over the 0.2% growth economists expected, and 3.3% higher than a year ago.
The stock market saw a dip Thursday after the report was released.
The numbers show that the “Biden-Harris administration was never able to get this issue under control and back to the Federal Reserve’s target rate,” Alfredo Ortiz, CEO of the Job Creators Network, said in a statement.
“Under the Biden-Harris administration, inflation increased by a total of 21%. In other words, the value of the dollars in American wallets has declined by one-fifth, preventing ordinary people from making ends meet. “This alone means Kamala Harris does not deserve a promotion to the Oval Office,” Ortiz said. “She cast the tiebreaking vote in $3 trillion of unnecessary deficit spending that bid up prices and diluted the currency. Pro-growth conservatives who believe in a sound dollar, economic growth, and deficit reduction are urgently needed in Congress and the White House to make America affordable again.”
Vice President Kamala Harris has struggled to win over voters with her economic message, and polls show that the majority of voters favor former President Donald Trump on the economy.
With less than four weeks until Election Day, Harris is locked in a tight presidential race with Trump. She is currently leading by just two percentage points, less than Hillary Clinton was leading at this point in 2016 before she ultimately lost.
