US August CPI rises 3.4% year-on-year and 0.4% month-on-month

According to a CNN report, the latest CPI report released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that U.S. consumer prices rose by 3.4% year-on-year in August, the same increase as in July. This may further strengthen the Federal Reserve's case for raising interest rates to curb inflation and prevent persistent upward pressure on prices. Month-on-month, consumer prices in August increased by 0.4%, a significant acceleration from July's 0.1% rise. Among them, gasoline prices rose by 3.9%, contributing about one-third of the overall price increase that month. For the Federal Reserve, perhaps the most concerning aspect of the August inflation report is that inflationary pressure is increasingly appearing in areas beyond energy prices. Excluding food and energy prices, the so-called core CPI rose by 2.4% in the 12 months ending August, lower than July’s 2.5%. Month-on-month, core CPI increased by 0.3%.