Report: Inflation Rises More Than Half-Percent Across IE

RIVERSIDE, CA — Spurred by energy price spikes, inflation throughout the Riverside metropolitan area climbed .6% over the previous two months, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The agency's bimonthly report, based on metrics for western Riverside County and the cities of Ontario and San Bernardino, indicated the Inland Empire's Consumer Price Index was mainly propelled higher by steadily increasing retail prices for regular, diesel and other fuel blends.

BLS officials said Wednesday that the increases in August and September pushed the energy component of the CPI up 5.5% for the entire two- month period.

Other contributors to the index's upward trajectory were food prices and shelter costs, which advanced .1% and .3%, respectively.

Shelter costs — or property rents — had been largely flat in the previous BLS regional report, covering the period June and July.

According to data, in the most recent period, costs of household furnishings and health care edged lower, at 2.3% and .1%, respectively.

Nationwide, the overall CPI also registered a .6% increase, just for the month of September. The impetus, again, was energy costs. For the one-year period ending September 30, BLS said the national CPI was 3.7%.

In the Inland Empire, the year-over-year CPI was 3.6%, measuring a host of economic inputs from September 2025 to September 2026, figures showed.

The most notable upward pressure in the annualized CPI was reflected in the energy component of the regional index, moving up 20.9%.

The current rate of inflation reflects the price trajectory impacting most sectors of the economy.

Energy price shocks that began at the end of February are directly connected to commodities markets and oil trading, which turned bullish immediately after the joint Israel-U.S. military operations against Iran, beginning with a missile attack on a school, where almost 200 Iranians were killed. The nation's supreme leader and multiple members of his family were also assassinated. Hostilities abated amid peace overtures in the spring but resumed again during the summer.

Iran declared a quasi closure of the Strait of Hormuz, where tankers carrying nearly one-fifth of the world's energy supplies must pass. The U.S. Energy Information Administration has characterized the narrow Persian Gulf sea lane as a "chokepoint."

Accelerating consumer price hikes have also been blamed by some economists on loose monetary policy and excessive federal spending, decaying the dollar's purchasing power.

The national debt is now $40.3 trillion, according to the congressional Joint Economic Committee's "Debt Dashboard." Some projections indicate the debt load will almost double in 10 years or less.