Ticker: Consumer spending up a modest 0.6%; Ports eye fines for backlogged cargo

American consumers slowed their spending to a gain of just 0.6% in September, a cautionary sign for an economy that remains in the grip of a pandemic and a prolonged bout of high inflation.

At the same time, a key inflation barometer closely followed by the Federal Reserve, surged 4.4% last month from a year earlier — the fastest such increase in three decades.

Wages, a key component of inflation, jumped 0.8% — twice the August gain and a reflection of the growing ability of workers to compel higher pay from companies desperate to fill available jobs. A separate report late last week showed that wages jumped 1.5% in the three months that ended in September, the most on records dating back 20 years.

For months, annual inflation has remained far above the modest annual rates of 2% or less that prevailed before the pandemic recession.

Ports to issue fines for backlogged cargo

The Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex will begin fining shipping companies if they let cargo containers stack up as the nation’s busiest twin harbors deal with an unprecedented backlog of vessels.

The Los Angeles and Long Beach harbor commissions voted Friday to implement a 90-day “container excess dwell fee” that sets time limits on how long containers can stay at marine terminals.

As of Friday, there were 153 ships at anchor, berthed or “loitering” — cruising while awaiting dock space — and more than 100 of those were container ships, according to the Marine Exchange of Southern California, which monitors port vessel traffic.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3CzmSgP