Inflation barometer

The Commerce Department releases its October snapshot of consumer spending Thursday.

The personal consumption expenditure price index rose 0.7% in September from a month earlier, the latest sign that prices for most goods and services in the U.S. are still rising steadily. The report is closely monitored by the Federal

Reserve as a barometer of inflation, which is the highest in decades. The Fed has been raising interest rates this year in a bid to slow the economy enough to tame inflation.