American shoppers looking for relief from rising prices as the country heads into the holiday season will have to wait.
The October seasonally adjusted Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) has climbed by 0.9%, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Nov. 10. This increase is more than double the 0.4% rise seen in September.
The financial news has not been good for President Joe Biden, who since Day 1 has had to deal with COVID-19's economic impacts on the U.S. and global economy. The October report puts inflation at a 31-year high. The president has been blamed for the current situation, despite reports that show it is primarily tied to supply chain issues and an increase in demand.
Twitter user Rebecca Jarvis was one of the thousands to react to the bureau's October report quickly.
"Inflation was up 6.2% in October vs a year ago, the biggest jump in prices in 31 years," Jarvis posted to Twitter Nov. 10. "Prices on food, energy, cars, and shelter are rising rapidly."
After this latest report, the first-term president said that addressing rising costs is a top priority.
"Inflation hurts Americans' pocketbooks, and reversing this trend is a top priority for me," Biden said in a statement related to the CPI report, yahoo!finance reported Nov. 10, while noting that his Build Back Better plan would help improve the national economy. However, only half of that more than $2 trillion spending plan is approved.
The monthly seasonally adjusted rise in all goods was broad-based, with increases noted in the energy, lodging, food, used cars and trucks, and new vehicles indexes.
During October, the energy index rose by 4.8 %, with the gasoline index increased by 6.1 %, and the other main energy component indexes also marked an increase.
Additionally, the food index climbed by 0.9%, while the index for food at home increased by 1.0 % during the same period.
Before seasonal adjustment, the index of all items rose by 6.2 % during the last 12 months, marking the highest 12-month gain since the period ending in Nov 1990.
The index grew by 4.6% for all commodities other than food and energy over the last 12 months, the biggest 12-month rise since August 1991.
In addition, the energy index has surged by 30% during the previous year, and the food index increased by 5.3 % during the same period.
