US consumer price increases accelerated last month with inflation pressures resilient
By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER, AP Economics Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — Consumer price increases accelerated last month, the latest sign that inflation’s steady decline over the past two years has stalled in recent months.
According to the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, consumer prices rose 2.3% in October from a year earlier, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. That is up from just 2.1% in September, though it is still only modestly above the Fed’s 2% target.
Yet excluding the volatile food and energy categories, so-called “core” prices also picked up, climbing 2.8% last month from a year earlier, up from 2.7% in September, according to Commerce’s personal consumption expenditures price index. Economists closely watch core prices because they typically provide a better read on where inflation is headed.
Inflation has fallen sharply since it peaked at 7% in mid-2022, according to the Fed’s preferred measure. Yet yearly core inflation has fluctuated between 2.6% and 2.8% since February. Price increases have remained elevated in services, including apartment rents, restaurant meals, and car and home insurance.
What stores are open on Thanksgiving?
By MATT OTT, AP Business Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — With Thanksgiving and the formal launch of the holiday shopping season, Americans will again be consumed with the annual trifecta of turkey, travel and transactions — lots of them.
While most big U.S. retailers are closed on Thanksgiving Day, many will open early the following day — Black Friday, the unofficial start of the holiday gift-buying season and the biggest shopping day of the year.
Here’s what is open and closed this Thanksgiving, and a travel forecast from the experts at AAA auto club.
Government Buildings
Government offices, post offices, courts and schools are closed.
Banks and the stock market
U.S. stock markets and banks are closed Thursday; however, markets reopen on Friday for a shortened trading day, wrapping up at 1 p.m. Eastern.
Package Delivery
Standard FedEx and UPS pickup and delivery services will not be available on Thanksgiving, although some critical services will be offered at certain locations.
Retailers
Walmart will be closed on Thanksgiving but most stores will open at 6 a.m. local time on Black Friday.
Auto industry’s shift toward EVs is expected to go on despite Trump threat to kill tax credits
By TOM KRISHER
DETROIT (AP) — If President-elect Donald Trump makes good on his threat to kill federal tax credits for electric vehicle purchases, it’s likely that fewer buyers will choose EVs.
Yet tax credits or not, auto companies show no intention of retreating from a steady transition away from gas-burning cars and trucks, especially given the enormous investment they have already made: Since 2021, the industry has spent at least $160 billion on planning, designing and building electric vehicles, according to the Center for Auto Research.
In campaigning for the presidency, Trump condemned the federal tax for EV buyers — up to $7,500 per vehicle — as part of a “green new scam” that would devastate the auto industry. His transition team is reportedly working on plans to abolish the tax credits and to roll back the more stringent fuel-economy rules that were pushed through by the Biden administration. It is far from clear, though, that the Trump administration could actually rescind the credits.
Trump’s latest tariff plan aims at multiple countries. What does it mean for the US?
By PAUL WISEMAN, AP Economics Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump has identified what he sees as an all-purpose fix for what ails America: Slap huge new tariffs on foreign goods entering the United States.
On Monday, Trump sent shockwaves across the nation’s northern and southern borders, vowing sweeping new tariffs on Mexico, Canada, as well as China, as soon as he takes office as part of his effort to crack down on illegal immigration and drugs.
In a pair of posts on his Truth Social site Trump railed against an influx of immigrants lacking permanent legal status, even though southern border apprehensions have been hovering near four-year lows.
He said he would impose a 25% tax on all products entering the country from Canada and Mexico, and an additional 10% tariff on goods from China, as one of his first executive orders.
He said the new tariffs would remain in place “until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!”