Tausi Insider

A person shops at a grocery store in Glenview, Ill., on July 4. Nam Y. Huh/The Associated Press Price increases moderated in the United States last month in the latest sign that the inflation pressures that have gripped the nation might be easing as the economy slows and Americans grow more cautious. Consumer inflation reached 7.7 per cent in October from a year earlier and 0.4 per cent from September, the government said Thursday. The year-over-year increase, down from 8.2 per cent in September, was the smallest rise since January. A separate gauge called core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy, rose 6.3 per cent in the past 12 months and 0.3 per cent from September. The numbers were all lower than economists had expected. Helping drive the inflation slowdown from September to October were used car prices, which dropped for a fourth straight month. Prices of clothing and medical care also fell. Food price increases slowed. By contrast, energy prices rebounded in Octo...

A now hiring sign on a storefront in Washington, on Oct. 7, 2022. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week, pointing to another month of solid job growth and continued labour market tightness despite efforts by the Federal Reserve to cool demand for workers. The weekly jobless claims report from the Labor Department on Thursday likely does not change expectations that the U.S. central bank will further scale back the size of its interest rate increases next month. It, however, poured cold water on financial market hopes that the Fed would pause its fastest rate hiking cycle since the 1980s, which had been fanned by a slump in retail sales in December and a retreat in inflation. “A low level of layoffs indicates that demand for workers remains strong and labour market conditions remain tight,” said Rubeela Farooqi, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics in White Plains, New York. “Facing work...