The report said initial jobless claims slid to 202,000, a decrease of 19,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 221,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to come in unchanged compared to the 220,000 originally reported for the previous week.

With the unexpected decrease, jobless claims fell to their lowest level since hitting 200,000 in the week ended October 14th.

“Initial jobless claims continue to bounce around due to seasonal noise, falling last week to their lowest level since mid-October,” said Nancy Vanden Houten, Lead U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics. “Looking past seasonal volatility, initial claims remain at a level that is consistent with relatively low layoffs”

The Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average also slipped to 213,250, a decrease of 7,750 from the previous week’s revised average of 221,000.

Meanwhile, the report said continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, rose by 20,000 to 1.876 million in the week ended December 2nd.

The four-week moving average of continuing claims also climbed to 1,874,500 from the previous week’s revised average of 1,871,000, reaching the highest level since December 2021.

“The continued claims data suggest that some unemployed individuals may be encountering more difficulties in finding new jobs, which would be consistent with weakening demand for labor,” said Vanden Houten.

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Expert investors have revealed their pick of companies listed on the Australian sharemarket that could reward investors in the new year and beyond.

The companies have differing risk-versus-return profiles, from those that would not look amiss in a portfolio of older investors mostly looking for income, to those for investors with very long investment time frames who can take more risk.

Transurban, which builds and operates toll roads in Australia and North America, is one of the picks of Atlas Funds Management’s Hugh Dive.Credit: Steven Siewert

Michael Gable, the founder of Fairmont Equities, is positive about the Australian sharemarket. Inflation is trending down, interest rates will eventually be lowered and that will be good news for shares, he says.

Gable likes BHP, which “should continue to pay high dividends for the next few years, while also seeing an appreciation in its share price”.

For investors prepared to take on more risk, he likes uranium miner Paladin. The company will restart uranium production in the early part of next year. Gable expects its share price to climb as the world is scrambling to secure uranium for nuclear power, as the pressure builds to meet zero-emission targets.

“Global supply [of uranium] is extremely low and will take years to catch up to the demand,” Gable says.

Chris Conway, the managing editor at Livewire Markets, picks Boral, the construction materials company, as an investment that could be suitable for cautious investors.

It is a major beneficiary of infrastructure spending, with projects such as the Melbourne Metro Tunnel.

The Australian government’s $120 billion, 10-year funding allocation, for nation-building infrastructure is set to benefit Boral, Conway says.

Henry Jennings, senior market analyst at Marcus Today, likes ‘buy now, pay later’ provider, Zip Co as a more speculative play. Not only are its operations in Australia, New Zealand and North America going well, but bad debts are below what the company had forecast, Jennings says.

Hugh Dive, the chief investment officer at Atlas Funds Management, nominates Transurban as a conservative pick.

Transurban builds and operates toll roads in Australia and North America. Dive says the company has revenue that is generally linked to inflation, and has developed existing assets by adding extra lanes to accommodate additional traffic.

Lithium miner Mineral Resources is his speculative pick. Sentiment towards lithium stocks went from the “penthouse to the outhouse” along with a sharp fall in the lithium price, Dive says.

“Mineral Resources is the most attractive way to get exposure to the sector,” he says. The company has iron ore and lithium assets and provides mining services to external clients.

“It has more than one string to its bow that can keep…the cash flowing if lithium prices remain depressed,” Dive says.

Duratec Australia, a small, but fast-growing engineering construction remediation contractor, is Angie Ellis’ conservative pick. “I like the diversification – it operates across defence, mining, oil and gas, marine, building and energy,” Ellis says.

Angie Ellis, a private investor and frequent winner of this masthead’s Shares Race, likes Credit Clear, which has a “customer accounts receivables platform”, as a speculative play.

Its acquisition of Debt Recoveries Australia, which specialises in insurance claim recoveries, will expand Credit Clear’s presence in the insurance sector, Ellis says.

The experts may own shares personally in the companies they have nominated. Share investing always comes with risks and readers should make their own enquiries.

• Advice given in this article is general in nature and is not intended to influence readers’ decisions about investing or financial products. They should always seek their own professional advice that takes into account their own personal circumstances before making any financial decisions.

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The report said non-farm payroll employment jumped by 199,000 jobs in November after rising by 150,000 jobs in October. Economists had expected employment to climb by 180,000 jobs.

The stronger than expected job growth partly reflected a notable increase in employment in the health care and social assistance sector, which added 93,200 jobs.

Employment in the manufacturing sector also rebounded, reflecting the return of workers from a strike, while employment in the retail sector declined.

The Labor Department also said the unemployment rate dipped to 3.7 percent in November from 3.9 percent in October. The unemployment rate was expected to remain unchanged.

The unexpected decrease by the unemployment rate came as the household survey measure of employment spiked by 747,000 persons, outpacing a 532,000 person surge in the size of the labor force.

The report also said average hourly employee earnings rose by $0.12 or 0.4 percent to $34.10 in November.

The annual rate of wage growth came in at 4.0 percent in November, unchanged from the downwardly revised level in October.

Economists had expected the pace of wage growth to edge down to 4.0 percent from the 4.1 percent originally reported for the previous month.

“Interest rates jumped in response to this report, as job market strength may be enough to keep the Fed cautious with respect to any comments regarding the path for rates at their December meeting,” said Mortgage Bankers Association SVP and Chief Economist Mike Fratantoni.

“Inflation is declining, but further declines are likely dependent upon some slowing in the job market,” he added. “We continue to forecast that the Fed will begin to cut rates in the spring of 2024, as job market trends are likely to weaken from here.”

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Whether the world cuts carbon emissions fast enough to secure a 1.5-degree planet depends on the arms race for clean-tech dominance between the US and China.

It does not depend significantly on anything done, and even less said, at the COP28 summit in Dubai, a process that risks becoming a net negative for progress, if it has not already crossed that line as a full army corps of lobbyists converge with 97,000 others at petroleum ground zero.

Cop28 kicked off last week in Dubai. Credit: AP

The annual COP gathering is itself a fossilised racket, an anachronistic showdown between the West and a victim category of “developing countries” that is frozen in time and contains some of the richest and most brazen polluters, or others that still build coal plants and persecute ecologists.

The environmental press corps will anguish over whether the text progresses from a “phase-down” to a “phase-out” of coal power plants, and whether petrostates lift their veto on such language for oil and gas. Passions will fly over a get-out clause for “abated” fossil fuels, and whether carbon capture really counts.

The language matters, and the precise wording can be mobilised for climate lawfare in civil courts, at least in rule of law states. But technology and geo-economic reality are already moving faster than the COP curriculum can keep up.

“A global, irreversible, solar tipping point may have passed where solar energy gradually comes to dominate global electricity markets, without any further climate policies,” concluded a recent paper by the World Bank and Europe’s leading universities.

The “technological learning rate” of solar, wind, and now batteries is so relentless that a 24/7 mix is already cheaper than new coal in most of the world, and will become massively cheaper almost everywhere over time.

The report said the priority now is to sort out the details, upgrade grids, and channel the necessary funds to Africa. It is also a ferocious indictment of the “energy modelling community” that failed to see this coming.

China is rolling out 210 gigawatts (GW) of solar this year, not far short of the entire installation worldwide the year before. Carbon Brief says it is expanding its solar panel capacity to 1000GW by 2025, and increasing its battery capacity six fold.

The race for clean-tech dominance between the US and China will help the world achieve its climate goals.Credit: AP

This is not the result of altruism. It is happening because China a) wants a cheap and secure source of home-grown power beyond American naval reach, b) has acquired manufacturing dominance of renewables and wishes to leverage the advantage, and c) aims to dethrone the West’s auto industry.

America is responding with $US2 trillion ($3.1 trillion) of manufacturing rearmament because it a) cannot let this happen, b) still leads in applied sciences, and can win the fight, and c) recognises that clean tech is the economic prize of our time.

Europe is responding because its industries will be obliterated if it does not. None of this has much to do with the COP process.

“The transition to clean energy is happening worldwide and it’s unstoppable. It’s not a question of ‘if’, it’s just a matter of ‘how soon’,” said Fatih Birol, head of the International Energy Agency.

The pace depends on whether vested interests succeed in delaying the rollout of technology that already exists, and whether they can head off investment in new technology at the point of critical breakthrough.

Electric vehicles are already there. Decent EVs retail today in the Chinese mass market for $US10,000-$US15,000 without purchase subsidies. Credible analysts in China think EVs will surpass 50 per cent of sales within two years.

Europe will catch up as cheaper models flood showrooms circa 2025, albeit nearer $US20,000-$US25,000. This is before the arrival of solid-state batteries and other variants that should triple range before the end of the decade, without the need for cobalt.

The US Energy Department is targeting green hydrogen at $US1 a kilo by 2030. Anything from $US1.50-$US2 opens the way for a displacement of fossils in dirty hydrogen, and then for fertilisers, steel, shipping, etc, going down the Liebreich “hydrogen ladder”, covering some 20 per cent of emissions.

Cell-grown chicken and lab-fermented milk is on the market today in the US, the first of a wave of bioidentical meats and dairy likely to undercut Big Meat on cost within five years, disrupting the industrial-scale market for sausages, burgers, nuggets, and so forth, with a fraction of the water needs and CO2 emissions.

Whatever language comes out of Cop28, it will not inconvenience coal, gas and oil interests in any serious way.

This will alleviate the strain on croplands used for animal feed. It may enable some reforestation and surplus biofuel for jet travel.

More exotically, nuclear fusion at competitive cost may not be as far away as people think. The Fusion Industry Association says 65 per cent of its members think commercial fusion power – at viable cost, and the radioactive waste of a hospital – could be a reality by 2035, and 90 per cent by 2040. They are eyeing costs of $US60-$US80MWh. That would seal the argument.

The COP process was necessary to kickstart clean technology and bring it to scale. The Paris Agreement in 2015 sent the message that the game was up for the carbon economy. It was the moment when Big Money grew wary of fossil finance. It defected to the other side, discerning larger fortunes to be made in the new industries.

This pulled forward investment and brought us to where we are today.

The baton has by now passed. With each year the COP process is more clearly becoming a venue for vested interests – Big Oil, Industrial Meat, Old Auto, you name it – trying to slow down the post-carbon juggernaut.

Sultan Al-Jaber has proved a capable president of COP28, earning plaudits even from some green activists. He is right that you need “smart decarbonisation” and political “buy-in” from fossil producers and users. What are we going to do about the 2,000 coal-fired plants in Asia built mostly between 2005 and 2018 with a lifespan of 40-45 years that must keep burning to pay off project debt?

But he also presides over Abu Dhabi’s national oil company, which is expanding crude output from three million to five million barrels a day over the next seven years, with emissions to match, and “no credible plan whatsoever to reduce them”, in the words of climateer Al Gore.

Al-Jaber said two weeks ago that there was “no science out there, or no scenario out there, that says that the phaseout of fossil fuel is what’s going to achieve 1.5”.

He is right. We will still need some oil and gas in 2050. The CO2 will be offset by removal technologies, or captured and sequestered.

But Gore is also right that fossil interests are promoting “falsehoods on an industrial scale”, intervening at every level across the world, “with their lobbyists and with their fixers, doing everything they can to slow down progress”, and have “brazenly seized control of the COP process”.

Whatever language comes out of COP28, it will not inconvenience coal, gas and oil interests in any serious way.

Like all large synods that grow too big, lose focus and fall prey to carpetbaggers, the COP process has outlived its original purpose.

It is a jarring mix of climate doomerism and delaying-tactics. It should stick to scientific reports and to helping vulnerable nations at the sharp end of climate change.

Technology and market price signals are already solving the problem without need for degrowth, hairshirts and sacrifice. That is what we should be proclaiming from the rooftops.

Telegraph, London

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The HCOB composite output index registered 47.6, up from a 35-month low of 46.5 in October, the purchasing managers’ survey results from S&P Global revealed on Tuesday.

Moreover, the score was also above the flash level of 47.1 and hit the highest since July.

The services Purchasing Managers’ Index advanced to 48.7 from 47.8 in the previous month. The flash reading was 48.2.

Factoring in the latest PMI indicators, GDP nowcast suggests that a fall in GDP is on the cards for the fourth quarter and the economy is on the brink of recession, Cyrus de la Rubia, chief economist at Hamburg Commercial Bank, said.

Demand for goods and services remained a major drag on business activity. Orders from non-domestic clients faltered after orders received from external sources declined sharply.

Falling receipts of new work prompted companies to make additional inroads into their backlogs. Outstanding orders across the private sector declined strongly.

Further, employment decreased for the first time in nearly three years. The drop exclusively reflected job losses at manufacturers as services companies registered a slower expansion in staffing capacity.

There was a slight intensification of price pressures.

Input prices grew sharply and at the joint-fastest pace since May. While manufacturers’ expenses continued to fall, input cost in the service sector declined.

Consequently, output charge inflation ticked up in November.

Growth expectations edged up slightly in November and the positive sentiment was subdued by historical standards.

“The ECB confronts a pivotal decision: continue with interest rate hikes or place faith in the ongoing transmission of these hikes to prices,” HCOB’s chief economist Rubia said.

“As of now, indications suggest a strong bias towards the latter choice,”

All big four economies of the currency bloc reported contractions in November.

France was the worst performer. Germany and Italy reported a slowdown in their downturns, while Spain’s private sector shrank for the first time since August.

Germany’s final composite output index advanced to 47.8 in November from 45.9 in October. The score suggested the slowest pace of contraction in four months.

The German services PMI posted 49.6, up from 48.2 in October and the initial score of 48.7.

France’s private sector shrank again in November. The composite output index held steady at 44.6 compared to the flash estimate of 44.5.

The services PMI rose slightly to 45.4 from 45.2 a month ago and remained slightly below the initial estimate of 45.3.

With sustained contractions in both manufacturing and services output, Italy’s private sector registered a sixth straight month of contraction.

But the composite indicator improved to 48.1 from 47.0 in October. The services PMI picked up to 49.5 in November from October’s year-low of 47.7.

Spain’s private sector shrank for the first time in three months in November.

The composite index dropped to 49.8 in November from 50.0 a month ago. The services PMI registered 51.0, little changed from 51.1 in the prior month.

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There’s a question financial professionals may never ask you and yet the answer can have an enormous impact on your entire financial future: how much do you trust yourself?

This sounds like an odd question in a finance column, but hear me out.

Financial advice’s excessive focus on apps, tips and hacks can make you think you just lack the know-how, but instead it may be a question of self-trust.Credit: Simon Letch

By now, I’ve had the opportunity to talk to hundreds of people about their finances and help many of them turn their financial lives around. In the process, I get to observe common patterns.

I’ve noticed that many of the poor financial decisions people make, or the financial challenges people face, are not a result of the wrong tool or strategy. They’re a result of low self-trust.

Here’s what that might look like in a financial context:

• Being scared to set savings goals because you’re worried you won’t be able to follow through, and you’ll just end up dipping into your savings (again)
• Feeling nervous when you receive extra money (e.g. as a gift, or tax return) because you’re worried you won’t be able to hang onto it
• Getting stuck in analysis-paralysis or indecision over what tools to use, or what investments to buy because you don’t trust yourself to make a sound decision
• Being overly cautious with spending or investing money because you don’t trust that you can make good financial decisions that you won’t regret later

This is where a lot of traditional financial advice falls down. The excessive focus on apps, software, tips and hacks leads you to believe that what you’re lacking is simply the know-how or the right tool.

If you knew how to save, you would. If you knew how to invest, you would. Or maybe it’s because you don’t have the right app. Why not try another one?

But that’s an overly simplistic assessment. It ignores the countless people who do, in fact, know-how. They’ve read the books, tried the apps, cycled through countless spreadsheets.

They’re still anxious, lacking in financial clarity and confidence, and often no further ahead than they were before. Because there isn’t an app, software, hack or tool that will work, if you don’t have the self-trust to make confident financial decisions and stick to them.

Just like, if you put someone who doesn’t trust their ability to drive in the driver’s seat, it doesn’t matter how new or fancy the car is, you’re still in for a rough drive.

The most important thing here is to start small. If you can’t trust yourself to save $100, then start with saving $5.

So, how do you build self-trust? Firstly, understand that self-trust is built the same way you build trust with anyone: by following through on what you say you’re going to do, consistently and reliably.

If you have low self-trust, chances are you don’t trust yourself to make good financial decisions because you’ve made many mistakes or broken plenty of promises to yourself in the past. Maybe you’ve set goals you gave up on, or you’ve started projects you never finished, or bought things you regret.

To repair that broken self-trust, you need to start showing yourself that you can make and follow through on good financial decisions.

The most important thing here is to start small. If you can’t trust yourself to save $100, then start with saving $5. If you can’t trust yourself to stomach investing $1,000, start with $100.

This isn’t the time to be ambitious. The objective is to start demonstrating that you are reliable and can trust yourself to follow through. The second most important thing is to celebrate when you do follow through.

It might feel silly to celebrate saving $5. You might think it’s ‘too small’ an achievement to celebrate. But here, size is not important. What’s important is that you followed through.

Bit by bit, this will give you the self-trust to take the next step. Once you can consistently save $5, then why not $10, or $20 or even $50? Soon, you’ll be saving $100 with confidence.

This is the real secret behind compounding growth. Compounding doesn’t work if you keep stopping and starting, or sabotaging your progress every few months.

For compounding to work, you have to stay in the game. That means you have to trust yourself enough to stay the course.

Paridhi Jain is the founder of SkilledSmart, which helps adults learn to manage, save and invest their money through financial education courses and classes.

• Advice given in this article is general in nature and is not intended to influence readers’ decisions about investing or financial products. They should always seek their own professional advice that takes into account their own personal circumstances before making any financial decisions.

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Earnings per share were $1.90, up 6 percent from last year’s $1.79. Adjusted earnings per share were $2.59, compared to $2.40 a year ago.

Analysts on average had expected the company to earn $2.47 per share, according to figures compiled by Thomson Reuters. Analysts’ estimates typically exclude special items.

Net sales decreased 12 percent to $1.94 billion from prior year’s $2.21 billion. Net sales excluding the divestiture and foreign currency exchange increased 7 percent. The Street was looking for sales of $1.95 billion for the quarter.

Looking ahead for fiscal 2024, the company updated its financial outlook, which reflects the acquisition of Hostess Brands, Inc.

Adjusted earnings per share is now expected to range between $9.25 and $9.65, compared to previous estimate of $9.45 to $9.85. Analysts estimate earnings of $9.48 per share for the year.

Net sales are expected to decrease 3.0 to 3.5 percent compared to the prior year, reflecting approximately $8.25 billion at the mid-point of the guidance range.

Comparable net sales are now expected to increase 8.5 to 9.0 percent, compared to prior estimate of 8.5 percent – 9.5 percent.

In pre-market activity on the NYSE, J.M. Smucker shares were trading at $116.18, up 3.3 percent.

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The Sentix investor confidence index climbed to -16.8 from -18.6 in November. Economists had forecast a reading of -15.0. The score was the highest since May this year.

Both the expectations sub-index and the current situation measure improved in December.

The expectations sub-index climbed to -9.8 from -10.0 and marked its highest level since February this year. Expectations improved strongly for the third month in a row.

The current situation index rose to -23.5 from -26.8 in the previous month.

“At 0.2 points, however, the increase [in the expectations index] is very moderate,” Sentix said.

“However, as the situation values also improved slightly, the question arises as to whether we can speak of a trend reversal.”

While many economists view three increases in the expectation value as a sign of a trend reversal, the still weak overall momentum and the lack of a certain amount of international support speak against this, the think tank said.

“So far, there are no signs of a new upswing in any region,” Sentix said. “This would require positive expectations, preferably in double figures.”

Such opportunities may arise at the start of the year as there are positive developments in the inflation outlook, the institute added.

The inflation barometer of the Sentix survey improved for the fifth month in a row to 16.25 points.

This suggest that investors not only see an end to the central banks’ prolonged cycle of interest rate hikes, but now also expect positive support from monetary policy, the institute said.

Among the other main economies surveyed, the investor confidence in Germany also rose for a third month in a row, led by improved in the current situation measure.

The expectations measure for the German economy weakened implying less chance of a turnaround soon.

Similar trends were seen for the U.S. economy though the expectations reading, albeit negative, was better than that of Germany’s.

All there indexes of the survey improved for Eastern Europe suggesting that economies in the region may be shedding the effect of the war in Ukraine.

Sentix also pointed out that the election of the libertarian politician Javier Milei as Argentina’s new president has not yet found any significant reflection in the survey data.

The latest Sentix survey was conducted from November 30 to December 02 among 1,245 investors.

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The latest data released this week from the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) paints a concerning picture for retirees.

The cost of living for a comfortable retirement has surged by 1.3 per cent for the quarter for couples, and as much as 1.5 per cent for single people as fuel, electricity and insurance costs continue to rise.

Costs, especially for single retirees, have risen sharply recently.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

Inflation of electricity and utilities is hitting single people at a higher rate as they grapple with the escalating costs of electricity and utilities on a sole income.

According to the ASFA report released this week, the amount Australians need to have a comfortable retirement has increased to an unprecedented $71,724 for couples in the September quarter, up 1.3 per cent.

For singles, the rise is slightly steeper at 1.5 per cent, totalling $50,981. This results in a 12-month rolling inflation rate for retirees at 5.5 per cent, just above Australia’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) standing at 5.4 per cent.

The burden on single retirees is more pronounced in this quarter because of the hikes in energy and utility costs, which have soared by 12 per cent in the past year. Fuel prices have increased by 7.2 per cent in the September quarter, acting as a significant catalyst for inflationary pressures.

If you’re struggling, take another look at the simple ways you can find a few extra bucks. It might make it a little easier this Christmas.

Insurance costs continue to outpace other living expenses, surging by 2.8 per cent, while telecommunication charges have risen by 1.9 per cent, and postal services have experienced a substantial 8.2 per cent hike, attributed to elevated fuel costs being passed on to consumers.

The escalation in electricity prices is a huge driver of cost-of-living inflation, with most retired people seeing a 4.2 per cent increase in the September quarter. For those ineligible for government rebates aimed at pensioners and seniors concession cardholders, the impact is even more pronounced.

Over the year, electricity costs have surged by a staggering 18.6 per cent, excluding any rebates. That’s a significant burden on people who are already navigating a challenging economic landscape.

There’s some good news in the quarterly data, though. Some of the basic costs of living which have been rising quickly in previous quarters have seen their inflation slow right down. The cost of food was only up 0.6 per cent, the cost of clothing was only up 0.4 per cent and the cost of healthcare was only up 0.1 per cent.

For those who are feeling the pinch, especially as we approach Christmas, it is a good time to take another look at your entitlements and benefits, to try to eke out a few extra dollars to help with the cost of living:

1. Make sure you are getting your energy relief payments. Government energy rebates are being paid in all Australian states and territories for pensioners, Commonwealth Seniors Health Card owners, and families receiving family tax benefits part A and B.

Despite the eligibility of thousands for these concessions, only a small portion of individuals appear to be aware. Qualifying customers in NSW, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania are set to receive up to $500 towards electricity or gas bills. Households in Western Australia, the Northern Territory, and the ACT, however, will only be eligible for rebates of up to $350.

These payments should have been made directly to your electricity account if you are already registered as eligible with your provider. If you live in an embedded network (that is, you get your electricity from your landlord, which might be a retirement village, caravan park, or apartment) and your household is eligible for the energy supplement payments, you will need to apply for your energy rebate on the appropriate state government website.

If your application is approved, you will then receive the additional $500 or up to $350 subsidy.

2. Review and update your asset values with Centrelink to maximise your pension benefits. If you are receiving a pension it might be work taking another look at your Centrelink asset values.

You might well find that your car, boat or caravan or other assets have depreciated since the last time you reviewed them and that if you reduce the values to current market levels, that allows you to access more age pension benefits.

“Centrelink don’t automatically reduce the value of these assets over time, so depending on your other assets and income, if they are now worth less than what you last told them, you may be leaving money on the table,” said Craig Day, Head of CFS FirstTech.

3. And if you are retired, evaluate whether it’s time to transfer your super to a tax-free pension. Many people in retirement have not yet switched their super over into retirement phase where your income is tax free, something I have lamented at length.

This is a simple way to see more money in your pocket, as this little example shows: “If you had $500,000 in a super account and got a return of 4 per cent or $20,000, tax of up to $3000 would apply. However, if you converted your super to a pension, the full $20,000 would be completely tax-free, leaving you with more to fund your retirement,” Day says.

Every dollar really does count for those in their retirement years, so if you’re struggling, my message to you is to take another look at the simple ways you can find a few extra bucks. It might just make it a little easier this Christmas.

Bec Wilson is the author of the bestselling book How to Have an Epic Retirement and host of the new podcast Prime Time with Bec Wilson. She writes a weekly newsletter at epicretirement.net.

• Advice given in this article is general in nature and is not intended to influence readers’ decisions about investing or financial products. They should always seek their own professional advice that takes into account their own personal circumstances before making any financial decisions.

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The report said the annual rate of consumer price growth decelerated to 3.0 percent in October from 3.4 percent in September. The slowdown matched expectations.

Core consumer price growth also slowed in line with estimates, slipping to 3.5 percent in October from 3.7 percent in September. Core consumer prices exclude food and energy prices.

On a monthly basis, consumer prices were unchanged in October after climbing by 0.4 percent in September, while core consumer prices crept up by 0.2 percent after rising by 0.3 percent in the previous month.

“Inflation took another step toward returning to its pre-pandemic trends,” said Nationwide Financial Markets Economist Oren Klachkin. “There is more disinflation in the pipeline and we expect inflation to continue to cool in 2024.”

“Monetary policy isn’t broken, it just works with long lags,” he added. “However, Fed officials won’t hit their two percent inflation goal for quite some time.”

The inflation readings, which are said to be preferred by the Federal Reserve, were included in the Commerce Department’s report on personal income and spending during the month.

The report said personal income edged up by 0.2 percent in October after climbing by 0.4 percent in September. The uptick came in line with economist estimates.

Disposable personal income, or personal income less personal current taxes, rose by 0.3 percent in October after increasing by 0.4 percent in September.

Personal spending also increased in line with estimates, rising by 0.2 percent in October following a 0.7 percent advance in September.

Excluding price changes, personal spending still edged up by 0.2 percent in October after rising by 0.3 percent in the previous month.

The report also said personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income inched up to 3.8 percent in October from 3.7 percent in September.

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