US Inflation Slows Beyond Expectations: Analyzing October's CPI Figures

US inflation slowdown has much more to go

US consumer price inflation slowed more than expected in October. Higher borrowing costs will increasingly weigh on activity and corporate pricing power while slowing housing rents will be the main driver of disinflation over the next two quarters. With 2% inflation looking possible by next summer the pricing of rate cuts will intensify.

 

Inflation pressures are subsiding

US October CPI has undershot market expectations for both headline and core inflation. The headline rate is 0% month-on-month/3.2% year-on-year versus consensus predictions of 0.1%/3.3% while core (ex-food and energy) is 0.2%/4.0% versus predictions of 0.3%/4.1%. The biggest component, owners’ equivalent rent, cooled to 0.4% MoM from 0.6% MoM, but we are hopeful of much more to come. Energy fell 2.5%, led by a 5% MoM drop in gasoline while both used and new car prices fell  (-0.1% and -0.8%, respectively) and airline fares fell 0.9% with hotel prices dropping 2.9%. The big uncertainty ahead of time was medical care costs and changes to methodology and history, but it doesn’t appear to have been as big a story as feared, with prices up 0.3% MoM, though still down -0.8% YoY.

CPI ex food and energy MoM, 3M annualised & YoY%

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