Elgin Area Chamber Of Commerce: Inflation Rises Further

Press release from the Elgin Area Chamber of Commerce:

February 11, 2022

Inflation Rises Further

Inflation increases continued to rise in January, providing more ammunition for the Federal Reserve Board to begin raising interest rates to temper rising prices.

The Labor Department reported that headline inflation, which includes food and energy, hit an annual rate of 7.5% in January, a half-percentage-point bump from December. Core inflation, which removes food and energy prices, rose from 5.5% in December to 6%.

The month-to-month gain for both matched the December figure of 0.6%.

Used car prices represent the biggest sector for price increases with an annual rate of 40.5%. Their price growth slowed in January to a 1.5% increase compared to a 3.3% increase in December. Rising new car prices had the second-highest annual rate at 12.2%.

Fuel oil had the highest annual rate on the energy side. The monthly gain was 9.5% after falling 2.4% in December, reflecting the impact of cold weather. Its annual rate is the highest in headline inflation at 46.5% followed by gasoline at 40%.

Source: www.CoStar.com

This press release was produced by the Elgin Area Chamber of Commerce. The views expressed here are the author’s own.