Daily briefing · October 22, 2026

Today's Economic Brief

The latest official readings show consumer-price growth at 4.0%, unemployment at 4.2%, annualized real GDP growth at 2.2%. New releases and revisions can change that picture.

What changed

BLS · Oct 20, 2026

Major Economic Indicators Latest Numbers

Consumer Price Index (CPI): +0.6% in Sep 2026 News Release Historical Data Unemployment Rate: 4.2% in Sep 2026 News Release Historical Data Payroll Employment: +29,000(p) in Sep 2026 News Release Historical Data Average Hourly...

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Cleveland Fed · Oct 13, 2026

Who's Driving Medicaid's Enrollment Growth?

Medicaid outlays per capita have risen fourfold since 1990, recently driven by nondisabled working adults who likely meet new community engagement requirements.

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BEA · Oct 6, 2026

U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services, August 2026

The U.S. goods and services trade deficit increased in August 2026 according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and the U.S. Census Bureau. The deficit increased from $92.8 billion in July (revised) to $105.6 billion in Au...

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Why it matters

Consumer-price growth is 4.0%, up 1.1 percentage points from Aug 2025.
Unemployment rate is 4.2%, down 0.1 percentage points from Aug 2025.
Federal funds rate is 3.88%, down 0.2 percentage points from Oct 2025.

These comparisons describe published observations; they do not assign causes.

What comes next

Wed, Oct 28 at 10:00 AM ETQuarterly Data Series on Business Employment DynamicsBLS
Wed, Oct 28 at 10:00 AM ETMetropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment (Monthly)BLS
Wed, Oct 28 at 2:00 PM ETFOMC policy decisionFederal Reserve
Thu, Oct 29 at 8:30 AM ETGDP (Advance Estimate), 3rd Quarter 2026BEA
Thu, Oct 29 at 8:30 AM ETPersonal Income and Outlays, September 2026BEA