Inflation Rose Right Before the Election, Posing Challenges for Trump

Prices grew by just 0.2 percent between September and October, which was the same pace as a month earlier.

by Andrew Ackerman
Washington Post

Inflation rose modestly in the lead-up to last week’s presidential election, a sign that underlying economic forces keeping prices elevated will continue as Donald Trump returns to the White House.

The consumer price index increased by 2.6 percent in October from a year earlier, according to the Labor Department, in line with economists’ expectations and hotter than a 2.4 percent rise in September. Prices were also up by 0.2 percent between September and October, which was the same pace as in each of the three previous months.

Inflation dominated the list of top concerns of Americans who voted out incumbents in federal elections, even as inflation has eased this year. Overall prices remain much higher than in 2019, just before the pandemic.

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