Personal Finance
Here’s the inflation breakdown for November 2024 — in one chart
Hispanolistic | E+ | Getty Images
Consumers saw inflation pick up slightly in November, as price increases in categories like groceries, gasoline and new cars outweighed a deceleration in others like shelter during the month.
The consumer price index, a key inflation gauge, rose 2.7% last month relative to November 2023, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday. The annual rate was up from 2.6% in October.
“I don’t see an acceleration” of inflation, said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s. “But I think it’s persistently too strong.”
“It’s not like there’s any smoking gun saying, ‘This is the problem,'” Zandi said. “It’s kind of broad-based, a little on the high side everywhere.”
That said, there are reasons for optimism, according to economists.
Namely, consumers can take “solace” that economic trends underpinning inflation, such as moderating wage growth in the labor market, remain positive, Zandi said.
“We still think we’re on the overall path of disinflation,” despite the appearance of an inflation “revival,” said Joe Seydl, a senior markets economist at J.P. Morgan Private Bank.
A ‘bounce back’ in food prices
Inflation has pulled back significantly from its pandemic-era peak of 9.1% in June 2022.
The U.S. Federal Reserve aims for a long-term inflation target around 2%. (The central bank uses a similar but different inflation gauge than the CPI, known as the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index, or PCE.)
“The bulk of this progress is behind us now and inflation may remain stubbornly sticky near current levels for a time,” Rick Rieder, head of BlackRock’s global allocation investment team, wrote in a note Wednesday.
While prices pressures have broadly eased across the U.S. economy, there have been some headwinds in recent months.
Grocery inflation jumped notably in November, from a 0.1% monthly reading in October to 0.5% in November, for example. (For context, a consistent CPI reading of about 0.2% each month would generally be in line with target inflation, economists said.)
Egg prices jumped about 8% during the month alone, and are up 38% in the past year, according to CPI data.
“We saw a bounce back in food prices,” Zandi said. “Part of it is avian flu: Egg prices continue to be very strong.”
Food prices are generally volatile, so one month of elevated grocery-inflation data shouldn’t set off alarm bells, Zandi said. However, it will be an important category to watch as groceries “probably matter most” to the majority of households relative to pricing, he said.
Cars and housing are other trouble spots
Additionally, categories like transportation, health care and shelter have been trouble spots, Seydl said.
Vehicle prices and airfare are big components of the transportation category. Their recent inflationary bouts are likely to be short-lived, though, Seydl said.
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New vehicle prices rose 0.6% from October to November, according to CPI data. Those for car insurance rose just 0.1% over that period, but are up 13% over the year.
In 2021, car prices spiked amid a shortage of semiconductors essential to manufacture them. That led to a severe vehicle shortage and high inflation. Later, prices fell as dealers rebuilt their inventories. Now, some price volatility is natural as the market settles back into equilibrium, Seydl said.
Car prices feed into motor vehicle insurance: When prices are elevated, insurers’ cost to replace vehicles after a car accident is also much higher. Insurers also typically need approval from regulators to raise consumer premiums, which takes time.
Airline prices, like those of autos, are also “finding a bottom,” Seydl said. Actual fares are roughly where they were before the Covid-19 pandemic, according to CPI data.
“We haven’t really had any airfare inflation from 2019 to today,” Seydl said. “We have just seen a lot of volatility.”
Labor costs are the primary input for health care inflation, he said.
While wage growth has broadly eased across much of the economy — generally lessening the likelihood that businesses will raise prices to compensate for labor — the health care sector still has a labor shortage, making price strength “pretty resilient,” Seydl said.
Prices for medical care services were up 0.4% from October to November, and by 4% over the year.
As the largest CPI component, housing also continues to prop up overall inflation readings. Shelter accounted for 40% of the monthly CPI increase, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
However, it has declined notably: The shelter index increased 4.7 percent over the last year, the smallest 12-month increase since February 2022, BLS said.
Inflation for rent and owners’ equivalent rent (an estimate of the rental price a homeowner could command for their property) saw their smallest one-month increases since July 2021 and April 2021, respectively.
Nitat Termmee | Moment | Getty Images
The U.S. job market isn’t looking too hot for recent college graduates and other job seekers, according to economists and labor experts.
“The job market is kind of trash right now,” said Mandi Woodruff-Santos, a career coach and personal finance expert.
“I mean, it’s really difficult,” she added. “It’s really difficult for people who have many years of experience, so it’s going to be difficult for college kids.”
‘Tough summer’ for job seekers
That may seem counterintuitive.
The national unemployment rate in May was relatively low, at 4.2%. The layoff rate has also been historically low, suggesting employers are holding on to their workers.
Yet, hiring has been anemic. The pace of employer hiring in April was the lowest in more than 10 years, since August 2014, excluding the early months of the Covid pandemic.
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The rate at which workers are quitting — a barometer of worker confidence about their job prospects — has also plummeted to below pre-pandemic levels, a stark reversal from the “great resignation” in 2021 and 2022.
“It will be a tough summer for anyone looking for full-time work,” Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, wrote in an e-mail Friday.
“This is an ‘abundance of caution economy’ where businesses are only filling critical positions and job seekers, especially recent graduates, are struggling to find employment,” she said.
Steady job market erosion ‘cannot continue forever’
While the job market may be limping along by some measures, Long also said a recession doesn’t seem “imminent.”
Businesses added more jobs than expected in May, for example. But those gains have slowed significantly — a worrisome sign, economists said.
Employers appear reluctant to hire in an uncertain economy.
CEO confidence plummeted in the second quarter of 2025, seeing its largest quarterly decline on record dating to 1976, according to a survey by The Conference Board. Uncertainty around geopolitical instability, trade and tariff policy were the largest business risks, according to Roger Ferguson Jr., the group’s chair emeritus.
The share of CEOs expecting to expand their workforce fell slightly, to 28% in Q2 from 32% in Q1, and the share planning to cut their workforce rose 1 point, to 28%.
“The steady erosion in the US job market cannot continue forever — at some point, there will just not be much left to give,” Cory Stahle, an economist at the Indeed Hiring Lab, wrote in an analysis Friday.
“In a low-hiring, slow-growth environment, employers can only hold onto their existing employees for so long before they too will have to be let go — increasing unemployment even as job opportunities continue to shrink,” Stahle wrote.
Don’t underestimate personal connections
Don’t underestimate the “power of personal connections” to help get noticed in a competitive job market like this one, said Woodruff-Santos, the career coach.
Her No. 1 piece of advice: Make yourself “uncomfortable” in order to network and build professional relationships.
“You need to put yourself in situations where you may not know everybody, you may not know one person, where you may actually need someone to give you a bit of a helping hand, and to feel confident and OK doing that,” Woodruff-Santos said.
If you’re pushed to accept a job you don’t love to make ends meet, make a plan to keep current in the field to which you aspire, she said.
In other words, build the skills that will eventually help you get that job, perhaps by taking a training course, getting a certificate or doing contract work, she said. Also, consider joining a professional organization, putting yourself in the same room as people in your desired field and with whom you can connect, she said.
These steps raise your chances of getting attention from future employers and keeping your skills sharp, Woodruff-Santos said.
She also had some words of encouragement.
“The job market has been trash before,” she said. “It’ll be trash again. This probably won’t be your first trash job market. And you’re going to be OK.”
WASHINGTON DC, UNITED STATES – MAY 30: United States President Donald Trump departs at the White House to U.S. Steel’s Irvin Works in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania in Washington D.C May 30, 2025.
Celal Gunes | Anadolu | Getty Images
As the Senate weighs President Donald Trump‘s multi-trillion-dollar spending package, a lesser-known provision tucked into the House-approved bill has pushback from Wall Street.
The House measure, known as Section 899, would allow the U.S. to add a new tax of up to 20% on foreigners with U.S. investments, including multinational companies operating in the U.S.
Some analysts call the provision a “revenge tax” due to its wording. It would apply to foreign entities if their home country imposes “unfair foreign taxes” against U.S. companies, according to the bill.
“Wall Street investors are shocked by [Section] 899 and apparently did not see it coming,” James Lucier, Capital Alpha Partners managing director, wrote in a June 5 analysis.
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If enacted as written, the provision could have “significant implications for the asset management industry,” including cross-border income earned by hedge funds, private equity funds and other entities, Ernst & Young wrote on June 2.
Passive investment income could be subject to a higher U.S. withholding tax, as high as 50% in some cases, the company noted. Some analysts worry that could impact future investment.
The Investment Company Institute, which represents the asset management industry serving individual investors, warned in a May 30 statement that the provision is “written in a manner that could limit foreign investment to the U.S.”
But with details pending as the Senate assesses the bill, many experts are still weighing the potential impact — including who could be affected.
Here’s what investors need to know about Section 899.
How the ‘revenge tax’ could work
As drafted, Section 899 would allow the U.S. to hike existing levies for countries with “unfair foreign taxes” by 5% per year, capped at 20%.
Several kinds of tax fall under “unfair foreign taxes,” according to the provision. Those include the undertaxed profits rule, which is associated with part of the global minimum tax negotiated by the Biden administration. The term would also apply to digital services taxes and diverted profits taxes, along with new levies that could arise, according to the bill.
The second part of the measure would expand the so-called base erosion and anti-abuse tax, or BEAT, which aims to prevent corporations from shifting profits abroad to avoid taxes.
“Basically, all businesses that are operating in the U.S. from a foreign headquarters will face that,” said Daniel Bunn, president and CEO of the Tax Foundation. “It’s pretty expansive.”
The retaliatory measures would apply to most wealthy countries from which the U.S. receives direct foreign investment, which could threaten or harm the U.S. economy, according to Bunn’s analysis.
Notably, the proposed taxes don’t apply to U.S. Treasuries or portfolio interest, according to the bill.
‘Strong priority’ for House Republicans
Section 899 still needs Senate approval, and it’s unclear how the provision could change amid alarm from Wall Street.
But the measure has “strong support” from others in the business community, and it’s a “strong priority” for Republican House Ways and Means Committee members, Capital Alpha Partners’ Lucier wrote.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., first floated the idea in a May 2023 bill, and has been outspoken, along with other Republicans, against the global minimum tax.
If enacted as drafted, Section 899 could raise an estimated $116 billion over 10 years, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.
That could help fund other priorities in Trump’s mega-bill, and if removed, lawmakers may need to find the revenue elsewhere, Bunn said.
However, House Ways and Means Republicans may ultimately want foreign countries to adjust their tax policies before the new tax is imposed.
“If these countries withdraw these taxes and decide to behave, we will have achieved our goal,” Smith said in a June 4 statement.
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