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Here’s the inflation breakdown for October 2022 — in one chart

Published

3 years ago

November 10, 2022

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People shop for bread at a supermarket in Monterey Park, California on Oct. 19, 2022.

Frederic J. Brown | Afp | Getty Images

Inflation was cooler than expected in October, although household staples such as shelter, food and energy remained among the largest contributors to consumer prices still rising at a historically fast pace, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said Thursday.

Inflation is a measure of how quickly the prices consumers pay for a broad range of goods and services are rising.

The consumer price index, a key inflation barometer, jumped by 7.7% in October relative to a year earlier — the smallest 12-month increase since January. Economists expected a 7.9% annual increase, according to Dow Jones. Basically, a basket of goods and services that cost $100 a year ago costs $107.70 today.

The annual rate is down from June’s 9.1% pandemic-era peak and September’s 8.2% reading, but is hovering near the highest levels since the early 1980s.

“That’s obviously still very high,” said Andrew Hunter, senior U.S. economist at Capital Economics, of October’s reading. “But at least it’s a move in the right direction.”

A decline in the annual inflation rate doesn’t mean prices fell for goods and services; it just means prices aren’t rising as quickly.

While the headline annual reading is generally easier for consumers to understand, the monthly change is a more accurate gauge of near-term trends, i.e., if inflation is speeding up or slowing down, economists said.

The CPI rose 0.4% from September, according to the BLS. Economists expected a 0.6% monthly increase.

“For the past year to 18 months, we’ve seen a lot of 0.4%, 0.5%, 0.6%,” Hunter said. “It’s the reason annual inflation has been so high.”

Consistent monthly readings in the 0.2% range would suggest inflation was under control, he said.

The ‘pervasiveness’ of price increases

A healthy economy experiences a small degree of inflation each year. U.S. Federal Reserve officials aim to keep inflation around 2% annually.

But prices started rising at an unusually fast pace starting in early 2021, following years of low inflation.

As the U.S. economy reopened, a supply-demand imbalance fueled inflation that was initially limited to items such as used cars, but which has since spread and lingered longer than many officials and economists had expected.

“That’s the crux of the problem: the pervasiveness of inflation,” said Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate.

Inflation weighs on holiday gifting budgets

Inflation was a top concern for voters heading into Tuesday’s midterm elections. An NBC News poll issued last weekend found 81% of respondents were either somewhat dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with the state of the economy — a level unseen since the 2010 midterms.

The typical U.S. household spends $445 more a month to buy the same items it did a year ago, according to an estimate from Moody’s Analytics based on September’s CPI report.

Meanwhile, pay for many workers hasn’t kept pace with inflation, translating to a loss of purchasing power. Hourly earnings have fallen 2.8% in the last year after accounting for inflation, according to the BLS.

Food, energy and housing are top contributors

Large and consistent price increases in food, energy and housing have been troubling, despite some recent improvement, McBride said.

They’re necessities that constitute a large share of household spending, making inflation “so problematic” for households, he said.

“You can’t go without eating, you can’t go without cooking or heating the house and you need a roof over your head,” McBride said. “Those are three categories that continue to drive these high levels of inflation.”

Housing represents the biggest share of average consumer budgets, accounting for 34% of household spending in 2021, according to the most recent U.S. Department of Labor data. Transportation, which includes gasoline, and food are No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, at 16% and 12%.

Any meaningful relief for household budgets is something that is still well over the horizon.

Greg McBride

chief financial analyst at Bankrate

Shelter prices increased in October, jumping 0.8% from September — the largest monthly increase in that category since August 1990, according to the BLS. The category is up 6.9% in the last year.

The “food at home” index — or grocery prices — jumped 12.4% in October versus the same time a year ago. That’s an improvement from 13.5% in August, which was the largest 12-month increase in more than 40 years, since 1979.

The energy category — which includes gasoline, fuel oil, natural gas and electricity — was up 17.6% last month relative to October 2021. That’s a decline from September’s 19.8%.

“Any meaningful relief for household budgets is something that is still well over the horizon,” McBride said.

Gasoline prices had been a primary irritant for many Americans earlier in the year. Prices at the pump have retreated from summer highs of more than $5 a gallon nationwide, but edged up slightly in the past week; they currently sit at an average $3.80 per gallon, per AAA.

‘We have a ways to go’

“Core” inflation — a measure that strips out food and energy costs, which can be volatile — is important in terms of predicting future inflation trends, economists said.

The measure gives a sense of how broad-based inflation has gotten. Core inflation was 6.6% in September, the largest 12-month increase since August 1982. Core inflation was up 6.3% in October over a year ago; the index rose 0.3% during the month versus 0.6% in September.

Shelter, which includes rent, was the “dominant factor” in monthly increase in “core” CPI, according to the BLS. It accounted for 40% of annual core inflation.

The CPI generally lags price dynamics in the broad housing market and likely isn’t an accurate present-day snapshot of shelter prices, economists said. Home sales and mortgage volumes have slowed significantly, leading some to declare the U.S. is in a housing recession.

Other “notable” increases in the past year include medical care (up 5%), household furnishings and operations (8.4%), new vehicles (8.4%), and personal care (6.4%), the BLS said.

Monthly increases came from shelter, motor vehicle insurance, recreation, new vehicles and personal care, according to the BLS. There were also some monthly declines: used cars and trucks, medical care, apparel and airfares, it added.

“Price pressures remain evident across a broad range of goods and services,” Jerome Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserve, said during a press conference Nov. 2.

The central bank has been raising borrowing costs aggressively to cool the economy and reduce inflation. Powell signaled that policy would likely continue for the foreseeable future.

“I would also say it’s premature to discuss pausing [interest-rate increases],” Powell said. “And it’s not something that we’re thinking about; that’s really not a conversation to be had now.”

“We have a ways to go.”

Inflation isn’t just a U.S. phenomenon

Inflation isn’t a problem in just the U.S. Indeed, it’s been worse elsewhere.

For example, consumers in the United Kingdom saw prices increase 10.1% annually in September, tying a 40-year high hit in July.

But on the global stage, inflation first showed up in the U.S., Hunter said. That’s partly due to Covid-related restrictions unwinding sooner in many states relative to the rest of the world and federal support for households kickstarting the economic recovery.

“The U.S. has been a leading indicator for what’s happened to inflation in other countries,” Hunter said.

Inflation is a global problem worsened by geopolitical factors such as the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. Pictured: damage in Donetsk, Ukraine, on Nov. 5, 2022, after shelling.

Anadolu Agency | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

Americans had more disposable income as the economy reopened, the result of federal funds such as stimulus checks and pent-up demand from staying at home. Meanwhile, Covid-19 lockdowns roiled global supply chains — meaning ample cash ran headlong into fewer goods to buy, driving up prices.

Those supply-chain issues are “only now beginning to unwind,” Hunter said. But higher labor costs — the result of ongoing worker shortages and wages that have risen near their fastest pace in decades — have led to upward pressure on the cost of services, too, he said.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine also fueled a surge in commodity prices — for crude oil and grain, for example — which has fed into higher costs for gasoline and food, Hunter added.

High energy costs have broad ripple effects on other goods, which become more costly to produce and transport.

“I think this is something that will likely take much of 2023 to unfold, if we’re lucky,” McBride said.

Environment

AMD stock skyrockets 25% as OpenAI looks to take stake in AI chipmaker

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3 hours ago

October 6, 2025

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AMD stock skyrockets 25% as OpenAI looks to take stake in AI chipmaker

AMD stock skyrockets 25% as OpenAI looks to take stake through AI chip deal

OpenAI and Advanced Micro Devices have reached a deal that could see Sam Altman‘s company take a 10% stake in the chipmaker.

AMD stock skyrocketed more than 25% on Monday during premarket trading following the news.

OpenAI will deploy 6 gigawatts of AMD’s Instinct graphics processing units over multiple years and across multiple generations of hardware, the companies said Monday. It will kick off with an initial 1-gigawatt rollout of chips in the second half of 2026.

Tune in at 9:30 a.m. ET as OpenAI President Greg Brockman and AMD CEO Lisa Su join CNBC TV to discuss the chip deal. Watch in real time on CNBC+ or the CNBC Pro stream.

As part of the tie-up, AMD has issued OpenAI a warrant for up to 160 million shares of AMD common stock, with vesting milestones tied to both deployment volume and AMD’s share price.

The first tranche vests with the first full gigawatt deployment, with additional tranches unlocking as OpenAI scales to 6 gigawatts and meets key technical and commercial milestones required for large-scale rollout.

If OpenAI exercises the full warrant, it could acquire approximately 10% ownership in AMD, based on the current number of shares outstanding.

The ChatGPT maker said the deal was worth billions, but declined to disclose a specific dollar amount.

Stock Chart IconStock chart icon

AMD one-day stock chart.

“AMD’s leadership in high-performance chips will enable us to accelerate progress and bring the benefits of advanced AI to everyone faster,” Altman said in a release announcing the partnership.

The deal positions AMD as a core strategic partner to OpenAI, marking one of the largest GPU deployment agreements in the artificial intelligence industry to date.

The partnership could help ease industrywide pressure on supply chains and reduce OpenAI’s reliance on a single vendor.

OpenAI unveiled a landmark $100 billion equity-and-supply agreement with Nvidia nearly two weeks ago, cementing the chip giant’s role in powering the next generation of OpenAI models. That arrangement combined capital investment with long-term hardware supply — though in Nvidia’s case, it was the chipmaker taking an ownership stake in OpenAI.

Shares of Nvidia fell 1% on Monday in premarket trading following news of the OpenAI-AMD deal.

OpenAI’s $850 billion buildout contends with grid limits

That deal accounts for a dedicated 10-gigawatt portion of OpenAI’s broader 23-gigawatt infrastructure road map. At an estimated $50 billion in construction costs per gigawatt — together with the AMD deal — OpenAI has committed roughly $1 trillion in new buildout spending in just the past two weeks.

OpenAI is also in talks with Broadcom to build custom chips for its next generation of models.

The arrangement between OpenAI and AMD adds a new layer to the increasingly circular nature of AI’s corporate economy, where capital, equity and compute are traded among the same handful of companies building and powering the technology.

Nvidia is supplying the capital to buy its chips. Oracle is helping build the sites. AMD and Broadcom are stepping in as suppliers. OpenAI is anchoring the demand.

It’s a tightly wound circular economy, and one that analysts fear could face real strain if any link in the chain starts to weaken.

EVs and batteries power China’s $20B clean tech export surge

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15 hours ago

October 5, 2025

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EVs and batteries power China’s B clean tech export surge

BYD-discounts-EVs-overseas-china — The BYD Atto 3 goes on sale in Japan (Source: BYD Japan)

China set a new record for clean tech exports in August 2025, hitting $20 billion, according to new data analyzed using Ember’s China Cleantech Exports Data Explorer. The country remains the world’s largest exporter of electrotech, with surging demand for EVs and batteries leading the charge.

EV exports jumped 26% from January through August compared to the same period in 2024, while battery exports rose 23%. Other sectors saw more modest growth – grid technology up 22%, wind up 16%, and heating and cooling systems up 4% – but those gains were offset by a 19% drop in solar PV export value. EVs and batteries are now worth more than double the value of China’s solar PV exports.

This milestone is remarkable because it comes even as technology prices have fallen sharply. Solar panel prices, for example, have plunged more than 80% over the past decade, making them more affordable and driving up global demand. In August alone, China exported 46 gigawatts (GW) of solar PV – more than Australia’s entire installed solar capacity – setting a record in capacity terms. However, their dollar value remains 47% below their March 2023 peak.

Falling prices have fueled growth in new regions. Over half of the increase in China’s EV exports this year came from outside the OECD, with the ASEAN region emerging as a major growth engine. EV exports to ASEAN surged 75% in the first eight months of 2025, mainly driven by Indonesia. The country saw the biggest rise in Chinese EV imports globally this year, becoming the world’s ninth-largest EV market. Battery electric vehicles made up 14% of new car sales in Indonesia in August 2025, up from 9% a year earlier.

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Africa is also rapidly adopting Chinese clean tech. From January to August, EV exports to the continent nearly tripled year-over-year (+287%), albeit from a very low base, with Morocco leading growth and Nigeria’s imports soaring sixfold. Latin America and the Caribbean saw an 11% rise, while the Middle East climbed 72%.

Domestically, China’s own adoption of clean tech is accelerating even faster. EVs accounted for 52% of new car sales in August, and in the first half of 2025, China installed more than twice as many solar panels as the rest of the world combined. Ember’s recent China Energy Transition Review attributes this momentum to consistent policy support that’s reshaping the country’s economy and energy system around electrified technologies.

“Demand for clean technologies continues to skyrocket as more and more countries seek their benefits, from low-cost power to cheaper vehicles,” said Ember analyst Euan Graham. “China’s electrotech is becoming the basis of the new energy system, with continued cost reductions driving faster growth than ever, especially in emerging economies.”

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Environment

This Meta alum has spent 10 months leading OpenAI’s nationwide hunt for its Stargate data centers

Published

23 hours ago

October 5, 2025

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Keith Heyde stands on site in Abilene, Texas, where OpenAI’s Stargate infrastructure buildout is underway. Heyde, a former head of AI compute at Meta, is now leading OpenAI’s physical expansion push.

OpenAI

It wasn’t how Keith Heyde envisioned celebrating the holidays. Rather than hanging out with his wife back home in Oregon, Heyde spent late December visiting potential data center sites across the U.S.

Two months earlier, Heyde left Meta to join OpenAI as the head of infrastructure. His job was to turn CEO Sam Altman’s ambitious compute dreams into reality, seeking out vast swaths of land suitable for expansive facilities that will eventually be packed with powerful graphics processing units for building large language models.

“My in-between Christmas and New Year’s last year was actually mostly spent looking at sites,” Heyde, 36, told CNBC in an interview. “So my family loved that, trust me.”

His life in 2025 has only gotten more intense.

Since January, OpenAI has been quietly soliciting and reviewing proposals from around 800 applicants hoping to host the next wave of its Stargate data centers, AI supercomputing hubs designed to train increasingly powerful models.

Roughly 20 sites are now in advanced stages of diligence, with massive tracts of land under review across the Southwest, Midwest and Southeast. Heyde said tax incentives are “a relatively small part of the decision matrix.”

The most important factors are access to power, ability to scale, and buy-in from local communities.

“Can we build quickly, is the power ramp there fast, and is this something where it makes sense from a community perspective?” he said.

Heyde leads site development within OpenAI’s industrial compute team, a division that’s swiftly become one of the most important groups inside the company. Infrastructure, once a supporting function, has now been elevated to a strategic pillar on par with product and model development.

With traditional data centers nearly at max capacity, OpenAI is betting that owning the next generation of physical infrastructure is central to controlling the future of AI.

The energy needs are hard to fathom. A gigawatt data center requires the amount of power needed for some entire cities. Late last month, OpenAI announced plans for a 17-gigawatt buildout in partnership with Oracle, Nvidia, and SoftBank.

New sites will have to include all sorts of energy options, including battery-backed solar installations, legacy gas turbine refurbishments and even small modular nuclear reactors, Heyde said. Each site looks different, but together they form the industrial backbone OpenAI needs to scale.

“We’ve done this wonderful piece of bottleneck analysis to see what types of energy sources actually allow us to unlock the journey that we want to be on,” Heyde said.

A good chunk of the capital is coming from Nvidia. The chipmaker agreed to invest up to $100 billion to fuel OpenAI’s expansion, which will involve purchasing millions of Nvidia’s GPUs.

‘Perfect wasn’t the goal’

Heyde, a former head of AI compute at Meta, helped oversee the buildout of Meta’s first 100,000 GPU cluster.

In addition to power, OpenAI is assessing how quickly it can build on a site, the availability of labor and proximity to supportive local governments, according to Stargate’s request for proposal.

Heyde said the team has made around 100 site visits and has a short list of sites in late-stage review. Some will be brand new builds, and others will require conversions and refurbishments of existing facilities. Flexibility will be key.

“The perfect parcels are largely taken,” Heyde said. “But we knew that perfect wasn’t the goal — the goal for us was, number one, a compelling power ramp.”

Competition is fierce.

Meta is building what may be the largest data center in the Western Hemisphere — a $10 billion project in Northeast Louisiana, fueled by billions in state incentives. CEO Mark Zuckerberg raised the top end of the company’s annual capital expenditure spending range to $72 billion in July.

The steel frame of data centers under construction during a tour of the OpenAI data center in Abilene, Texas, U.S., Sept. 23, 2025.

Shelby Tauber | Reuters

Amazon and Anthropic are teaming up on a 1,200-acre AI campus in Indiana. And across the country, states are rolling out tax breaks, power guarantees, and expedited zoning approvals to attract the next big AI cluster.

OpenAI is a relative upstart, having been around for just a decade and only known to the mainstream since launching ChatGPT less than three years ago. But it’s raised mounds of cash from the likes of Microsoft and SoftBank, in addition to Nvidia, on its way to a $500 billion valuation.

And OpenAI is showing it’s not afraid to lead the way in AI. A self-built solar campus in Abiliene, Texas, is already live.

While OpenAI still leans on partners like Oracle, OpenAI Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar told CNBC last week in Abilene that owning first-party infrastructure provides a differentiated approach. It curbs vendor markups, safeguards key intellectual property, and follows the same strategic logic that once drove Amazon to build Amazon Web Services rather than rely on existing infrastructure.

However, Heyde indicated that there’s no real playbook when it comes to AI, particularly as companies pursue artificial general intelligence (AGI), or AI that can potentially meet or exceed human capabilities.

OpenAI's stealth site search drew more than 800 bids since January 2025

“It’s a very different order of magnitude when we think about the type of delivery that has to happen at those locations,” he said.

Some applicants, including former bitcoin mining operators, offered existing power infrastructure, like substations and modular buildouts, but Heyde said those don’t always fit.

“Sometimes we found that it’s almost nice to be the first interaction in a community,” he said. “It’s a very nice narrative that we’re bringing the data center and the infrastructure there on behalf of OpenAI.”

The 20 finalist sites represent phase one of a much larger buildout. OpenAI ultimately plans to scale from single-gigawatt projects to massive campuses.

“Any place or any site we’re moving forward with, we’ve really considered the viability and our own belief that we can deliver the power story and the infrastructure story associated with those sites,” Heyde said.

He understands why many people are skeptical.

“It’s hard. There’s no doubt about it,” Heyde said. “The numbers we’re talking about are very challenging, but it’s certainly possible.”

WATCH: OpenAI’s $850 billion buildout contends with grid limits