Thanks for joining us. Here are five key takeaways from the August US consumer price index report, released Wednesday:
- Underlying inflation unexpectedly picked up. The so-called core consumer price index — which excludes food and energy costs — increased 0.3% from July, the most in four months, and 3.2% from a year ago
- Only five of the 65 forecasts in Bloomberg’s survey called for a 0.3% increase in the core CPI. Almost everyone else was at 0.2%, and four had it at 0.1%
- Shelter prices, the largest category within services, climbed 0.5%, the most since the start of the year and the second month of acceleration, defying widespread expectations for a downshift. Owners’ equivalent rent — a subset of shelter and the biggest individual component of the CPI — rose at a similar pace.
- Airfares rose a hefty 3.9% in August after falling for the previous five months while costs for energy and used vehicles fell
- Stocks wavered and bond yields rose. S&P 500 futures dropped steeply immediately after the report came out, before paring losses. The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced two basis points to 3.66%. The dollar wavered.