[Music] All right back to the numbers the Consumer Price Index remained unchanged Last month when compared to September The index Rose 3.2% over last year here Now to explain what this all means for The consumer and the economy is Gina Smik she's a federal reserve and economy Reporter for the New York Times so Gina We we say unchanged um and then we say That well you know things went up but It's been going up but and slowly which Is good news but I need you to break Down the numbers and tell consumers you Know why they should care about this Number yeah so this is a comprehensively Very good inflation report from a Consumer perspective from government Officials perspective kind of across the Board optimistic so that headline number That you just mentioned the one that was Unchanged was increased because it was Unchanged it increased less than what Economists had expected last month they Had expected a slight increase we didn't See any move at all on a year-over-year Basis so comparing prices this year to Prices last year we saw that 3.2% up Tick which is a little faster than the Roughly 2% that we were used to before The pandemic but it is way slower than The 9% that we were seeing last summer And so we really seeing some nice Progress and bringing inflation down
Much closer to sort of a normal Pace Than what we were experiencing last year So if this process keeps up if we keep Seeing this kind of slowing that could Be really good news for consumers Because it could mean we get back to Pretty normal world where prices are Climbing at roughly the pace that we've Been ex sort of used to throughout most People's adult lives so we're launching Ourselves into the holiday season though And I don't know if we ever you know Typically see kind of like a cyclical Blip during the holiday season but if People decide hey looks like things are Holding steady I'm going to spend like There's no tomorrow I mean could that be A problem down the road for us yeah what Has been so interesting this year is We've managed to see this pullback in Inflation even as people do kind of Spend like there's no tomorrow I mean we All watched the Taylor Swift and Beyonce Tours this summer right like people People spent like crazy and it seems Like we're shaping up for a pretty Strong holiday season as well so I think This is the real question that Economists are grappling with right now You know if people are spending like This if people are really willing to go Out and sort of drop of quite a bit of Money will companies take advantage of That to charge more and can inflation
Continue to moderate in that environment And so I think that's the next really Big question for officials at the Federal Reserve for officials at the White House you know everybody's going To be watching those retail spending Numbers this this fall and winter so and All these reports are sort of like Little tiny snapshots of the economy and Then you kind of try to put it together To make a big picture um the so this This is the Consumer Price Index and This includes food right and Fuel yes food and fuel are both in that 3.2% number if you strip those out and Just look at the core number which is What the FED really watches closely to Kind of get a feel of what's going on Under the surface that climbed at 4% so Still a pretty solid slowdown compared To where it previously was it was at 4.1 1% a month ago so even a slow down from The last month so overall very good Report here right and food and fuel's Kind of usually pretty volatile so Sometimes they can skew those numbers But it looks like in this case it hasn't Uh the producer price index comes out uh For October is released tomorrow how is That going to sort of have an impact and What can we expect from that yeah so People watch that for a sign of sort of What's Happening a little bit Upstream You know what is what is happening to
Sort of the companies and what are they Likely to pass along to consumers in the Longer run um that was supposed to hold Relatively steady it's been kind of Cooling and fits and spurts and that That trend is supposed to continue and So I think that we're expecting sort of An overall pretty benign inflation Picture um this month and so I think That is exactly what the Federal Reserve In particular is hoping to see as we Head into the end of the year so you Know that one's important maybe not Quite as important as this report I Think this report sets us up really well You know for the fed's final couple of Final meeting of the year I think I Think the CPI today is be the thing We're all paying attention to it's a Little no news is good news for the Economy I think that's good uh Gina smik Thank you thank you
