SBE Reacts to Inflation Numbers

Raymond J. Keating, chief economist for the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council (SBE Council), offered the following statement in reaction to the CPI inflation numbers released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics:

"Regarding CPI inflation of 0.2 percent for October and 1.2 percent for the past year, the big question is: What do these numbers mean, if anything, for the Federal Reserve's announced 'quantitative easing' earlier this month? Keep in mind that the CPI numbers are yesterday's inflation news. The numbers offer value to the extent that they might show a trend. And quite frankly, combined with a heating up in the producer price index (PPI) over the last four months (with PPI 'inflation' running at an annualized 4.2% rate), the slightly stepped up CPI inflation annualized rate of 2.7 percent for the past four months warrants some watching.