The Biden administration signals that Friday’s inflation data may be high

US President Joe Biden Delivers Infrastructure Remarks at Kansas City Area Transportation Authority in Kansas City, Missouri, USA, December 8, 2021. REUTERS / Jonathan Ernst

WASHINGTON, December 9 (Reuters) – President Joe Biden, preparing for another jump in inflation, tried to reassure Americans on Thursday that the rise in energy costs and other key commodities began to ease, but said the change may not be reflected in the November data term. Friday.

The consumer price index (CPI) for November is expected to have risen 6.8% compared to the same month last year, a Reuters survey among economists showed, and passed an increase of 6.2% in October, which was the fastest increase in 31 years. read more

“The information released tomorrow on energy in November does not reflect today’s reality, and it does not reflect the expected price declines in the weeks and months ahead, such as in the car market,” Biden said in an unusually long statement issued ahead of Friday’s data. .

Republicans have taken the case to criticize Biden’s extensive spending agenda, and it has weighed on the president’s approval ratings in recent months.

These claims are not fully substantiated, given that inflation is global, and annual inflation rates for a range of goods routinely purchased by US households – including food – were already at their highest level in a decade before Biden entered the White House early this year.

He reiterated that giving his $ 1.75 trillion social spending “Build Back Better” would help reduce costs.

Biden’s top financial adviser Brian Deese appeared at the regular White House briefing to hammer in the same message.

He hinted at a drop in unemployment rates to 1969 levels, an increase in real household income and what he called “encouraging signs” in labor force participation, while warning against overinterpreting Friday’s data.

“These data are by definition retrospective, and therefore they will not capture any recent price movements, especially in energy,” Deese said, citing a nine-cent drop in gasoline prices nationally.

Deese said 20 U.S. states have gasoline prices below the 20-year average, and more states should join their ranks in the coming weeks. A “very dramatic decline” in natural gas prices will also help ahead of the winter heating season, he said.

Deese also noted a decline in shipping costs and certain goods, including wheat and pork, as well as a fall in wholesale prices for used cars that should push consumer prices lower.

The November core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy components, is expected to have accelerated to a 4.9% annual increase from last month’s 4.6% increase, a Reuters survey showed.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said last week that the US Federal Reserve must be ready to respond to the possibility that inflation may not decline in the second half of next year, as most forecasters expect. read more

Deese declined to predict whether rising prices could continue into next year, but said most independent forecasters expected inflation to moderate “meaningfully” by 2022.

Reporting by Chris Gallagher and Nandita Bose in Washington; writing by Andrea Shalal; Edited by Alistair Bell and Dan Grebler

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