WASHINGTON (AP) — American consumers slowed their spending to a gain of just 0.6% in September, a cautionary sign for an economy that remains in the grip of a pandemic and a prolonged bout of high inflation.
American consumers slowed their spending to a gain of just 0.6% in September, a cautionary sign for an economy that remains in the grip of a pandemic and a prolonged bout of high inflation. At the same time, a key inflation barometer that’s closely followed by the Federal Reserve surged 4.4% last month from a year earlier — the fastest such increase in three decades. And wages, a key component of inflation, jumped 0.8% — twice the August gain and a reflection of the growing ability of workers to compel higher pay from companies that are desperate to fill a near-record number of available jobs.
