Core inflation, known as the Fed’s preferred gauge because it excludes volatile food and energy prices, was flat in September. The overall inflation reading rose to a 13-year high.
The U.S. economy added 194,000 jobs in September, the slowest pace in more than a year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
An index measuring homebuilder sentiment rose in September, showing a more positive outlook for the new-home market, after three months of declines.
The pace of inflation, one of the key drivers of mortgage rates, eased in August as reduced demand resulting from a resurgence of Covid-19 infections offset some of the supply-chain bottlenecks created by the pandemic.
Inflation expectations among Americans in August rose to the highest ever recorded in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s survey of consumers while their outlook for home-price growth moderated.
Nonfarm payrolls increased 235,000, the slowest pace since January, as a Delta-driven resurgence of the pandemic kept many consumers at home.
A speech on Friday by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell had the potential of sending mortgage rates into gyrations. Instead, he soothed the markets.
The consumer sentiment index from the University of Michigan plunged 13.5% in August to 70.2, the gloomiest outlook since December 2011.
Housing starts rose in June but the number of permits dipped, reflecting the roadblocks homebuilders continue to face such as elevated lumber prices and supply chain issues.
The Consumer Price Index jumped 0.9% in June and 5.4% from the same month last year, according to Labor Department data released Tuesday.
