Growing slower
The pace of price rises in the US has slowed, with the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) up 3.2% in October compared to the same period in 2022.
Although it's an overall increase, the rate is down from 3.7% in September — and the lowest annual rise since June. However, it’s important to remember that the overall CPI figure is only a composite picture of the wildly complicated US economy, and prices have been rising and falling more extremely across the board.
Inside inflation
Indeed, the BLS index measures monthly price fluctuations across more than 300 individual categories of spending, from the price of rice to college tuition fees.
Take cars, for example, which are costing us both more and less than last October, depending on what you’re trying to do with them. Filling one up or buying a used one? That will set you back 5.3% and 7.1% less than last year, respectively. If you’re looking to get one insured, however, you’ll pay 19.2% more than if you’d taken out a policy last October, and maintaining and repairing your vehicle will set you back almost 10% more on average as well.
