Efforts by the Biden administration to reduce inflation through means like boosting U.S. supplies of energy and key technological goods look like they’re paying off, although some plans obviously might take some time to implement.
In November, inflation on both a yearly and month-to-month basis fell. In other words, the rate of increase in prices from both the previous November and just this October were both below the comparable rates for the previous month. The yearly rate in November was 7.1 percent according to a federal report released on Tuesday, which is the better part of a percentage point below the 7.7 percent yearly rate in October. In November, prices also rose just 0.1 percent directly compared to the previous month, several tenths of a percentage point below the 0.4 percent rate seen in October. These figures include food and energy, and in the latter category, gas prices have recently been falling around the country, recently reaching a national average below the national average from the same day a year prior. As of Tuesday, that’s actually still the case.
The national average for a gallon of regular gas hit $3.245, below the $3.330 average seen a year ago and the $3.776 recorded a month prior. The overall inflation rates recorded for November beat economists’ expectations. Some anticipated a yearly inflation rate of 7.3 percent. It’s not the first time federal reports on the economy have revealed figures more positive than what economists expected, as it was the same for the recently released federal jobs report covering November. As previously reported on this site, jobs in the general category of nonfarm payrolls increased by 263,000 last month, which easily passed the expectation of 200,000 from economists surveyed by Dow Jones. The overall unemployment rate also stayed low at 3.7 percent, which was the same level reported earlier for the prior month.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose in value by about 250 points on Tuesday as the inflation news circulated. A cornerstone piece of legislation signed by the president, the Inflation Reduction Act, contains a wide range of provisions in support of lower expenses, including tax credits for small businesses transitioning to solar power, making improvements to energy efficiency in buildings, and acquiring vehicles running on clean energy. The bill — passed thanks to the Democratic majorities in the House and Senate — also provides tax incentives in support of manufacturing equipment used in clean energy in the United States, adding to measures that stand to both help Americans in dealing with potentially high costs and bring those prices lower.
