Inflationary pressures continue to weigh on the U.S. economy. Despite the Fed’s aggressive interest rate hikes several times this year, September's consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.4% sequentially and 8.2% from a year ago. With another hot CPI data and a strong employment report for September, the odds of the Fed raising interest rates by another 75 basis points in its next meeting are very high.
The Fed’s aggressive stance on persistent inflation has hit the economy’s growth. This is evident from the final estimate by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, which shows that the gross domestic product (GDP) shrank by 0.6% on an annualized basis in the second quarter.
