The US inflation rate is saying that all kinds of goods and services were more expensive and less available in 2021. The inflation rate rose to 6.8%, which is the highest point since 1982.
The prices were seen across multiple sectors and these prices include food, gas, and housing. According to the US consumer price index, the index rose by 0.8% in November. It happened after the October rise of 0.9%. This rise was happening during the six months in a row of a price increase.
When it comes to gasoline prices, we saw the largest increase since 1980. The prices were up by 58.1% in November, and this had a tremendous impact on all people who use their cars to commute to their jobs.
Many car users needed to use local traffic infrastructure, like buses and metro lines to go to their places of work. This was a saving they needed to make in order to combat the huge increase in gasoline prices.
At the moment, the current US interest rate is at 0.25% and this is something to consider as a relevant point when we measure the prices and percentages of inflation.
The current inflation rate is 7%, and this is the data for 2022.
We still do not have the data for January 2022, but we can measure the inflation for 2021. This inflation had an impact on all goods and services that we usually buy.
Meat, fish, eggs, and poultry had a 0.9% increase in November 2021. At the same time, we noticed a 0.8% increase in the prices of cereals and bakery products. Many kinds of other food items were also more expensive over the last year.
When it comes to non-food items, we can see that prices are also higher. Used and new cars, apparel, household furnishings, and airline tickets were more expensive.
To explain the situation to people, the White House stated that inflation is temporary and the situation with the prices is difficult because of the pandemic.
There are many administration’s critics that say that inflation is the worst in the last 40 years. However, the Biden administration refuses to see the problem from many perspectives. They are sure that the prices will go back to normal when the pandemic impact decreases.
The global stock market is also affected by inflation in the US. The world stocks go higher as inflation rises. This is the natural response of the market when it comes to the balance between prices and economic growth.
Many prices went higher and this is something to consider as relevant for the stock markets. The investors took the data in their stride after the statement from the Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell who said that the economy is ready to raise interest rates. This would be a response of the US government towards the Covid-19 crisis.
Both US and European stocks pushed higher when everybody realized that the inflation rate is higher. The tech-rich Nasdaq took one step further and rose 1 percent at the start of trading at the beginning of the year.
We can notice huge concerns about the prices in the US and Europe. Oil and gas prices are up, and many grocery prices are hitting the historically high points. It is left to see how the economy will be able to combat the epidemic crisis and how the US government will deal with the global stock market changes.
The situation is not easy in the US and Europe, especially when we take a look at the dollar value. It continues to sink, and the only way to stop the further decrease might be stopping the inflation in the US, which will be the most important action from the US government in 2022.
