Did the Fed rein in inflation?

CAMBRIDGE – On Nov 14, remarkably, the US Bureau of Labour Statistics announced that the consumer price index was unchanged in October. To be clear, that means the level of the CPI was unchanged; its rate of growth, or inflation, was actually zero.

Of course, one month doesn’t mean much. Petrol prices won’t plunge 5 per cent every month, as they did between September and October.

But there are also more promising – and meaningful – longer term data available: the headline CPI inflation rate over the last 12 months was 3.2 per cent, far below the 6.5 per cent average in 2022. At the risk of tempting fate, one might say that the inflation battle is being won.