inflation News Updates

The Labor Department’s producer price index — which captures inflation before it reaches consumers — soared 6.3% in September from a year ago, the biggest increase since December 2022.

Consumer prices rose 3.4% in August compared with a year earlier, the Commerce Department said. On a monthly basis, prices climbed 0.3%, up from 0.1% in July, a sign prices are still running hot.

The Conference Board said Sept. 29 that its consumer confidence index tumbled 6.7 points to 81.9 in September, down from 88.6 in August. 

European natural gas futures hit a three-year high and oil futures are moving closer to $100 a barrel as renewed fighting threatens to once again throttle energy supplies from the Persian Gulf. 

Prices rose 3.7% in July compared with a year earlier. Inflation has worsened since the Iran war began in late February, when it stood at 2.9%. 

The record showed participants’ inflation outlooks were “highly uncertain” and the re-escalation of the Iran war “clouded the inflation outlook.”

The Commerce Department reported July 30 that growth in U.S. gross domestic product decelerated from 2.1% in the first three months of 2026 and came in below economists' expectations.

Prices dropped 0.4% in June from May, the largest monthly drop in four years, the Labor Department said July 14.

Owners and decision-makers at SMBs are optimistic about the prospects for the rest of 2026, a stance likely to extend the ongoing freight market recovery.

Nonfarm payrolls increased 57,000 last month after downward revisions to the prior two months, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data released July 2.