Consumer prices in the United States rose significantly by a yearly rate of 6.2 percent in October, climbing from the previous month’s 5.4 percent, the country’s Bureau of Labor Statistics said. This is the highest rate since November 1990 and was partly driven by sky-rocketing energy costs, which increased by 30 percent. Particularly, the costs of gasoline soared by 49.6 percent. Prices of food also rose by 5.3 percent while new vehicles now cost 9.8 percent more compared to last year’s October. On a monthly basis, the inflation rate reached 0.9 percent, up from 0.4 percent in the previous month and was also fuelled by jumps in food and energy prices. However, even when the effects of food and energy prices are removed, the annual rise in consumer prices still reached 4.6 percent in October. Meanwhile, the number of initial jobless claims in the US fell once more to reach 267,000 claims for the week ending on 6 November, edging down from the previous week’s 271,000 claims, data from the US Department of Labor showed. This is the lowest level since 14 March 2020. Brazil’s inflation Brazil"s annual inflation rate grew slightly to 10.7 percent in October compared to 10.3 percent in September, official data showed. This was the highest reading since January 2016. The rebound in the economy, supply chain disruptions, a weaker currency and droughts contributed to the rising inflationary pressures. Transportation costs surged annually by 19.6 percent while prices of housing and utilities went up by 14.8 percent. Meanwhile, the monthly inflation increased to 1.25 percent in October compared to 1.16 percent in the prior month. Italy’s industrial production Italy"s industrial production increased by a monthly rate of 0.1 percent in September, after a 0.3 percent fall in the previous month, according to the country’s official statistics agency. Industrial production of consumer goods jumped by a month-on-month rate of 3.3 percent while output of the energy sector went up by 1.3 percent. On the other hand, production of capital goods fell by 1 percent. On an annual basis, industrial production went up by 4.4 percent in September, following August’s 0.1 percent decline.