Recovery hampered as inflation hits new highs

Inflation has reached new highs in the United States and Europe, as rising energy prices and supply bottlenecks have restrained the economic recoveries from the pandemic in both economies. In the U.S., a Commerce Department report Friday showed that prices rose 4.3 percent in August from a year earlier, slightly higher than the previous month and the largest annual increase since 1990. In the 19 countries that use the euro, inflation increased to 3.4 percent in September, from 3 percent in August, the statistics agency Eurostat said Friday.