NEW YORK (AP) — While prices for most goods have been falling throughout the year, inflation for a wide range of services remains high. That has put a strain on consumers eating out, servicing their cars and paying for various kinds of insurance.
Prices for services rose 3.7% in September from a year ago, according to the personal consumption expenditures price index, the inflation gauge of choice for the Federal Reserve. Prices for goods, though, have been falling, which has helped cool the overall rate of inflation nearly back to the Fed's goal of 2%.
Restaurants, with traditionally tight margins and tough competition for diners' dollars, are among the harder hit sectors dealing with stubborn inflation. Food services inflation rose 3.6% in September. Chains including Chipotle, McDonald's and others say they expect inflation pressure from wages to continue.
Higher wages drive up costs for restaurants, often prompting menu prices to also rise. Pressure from rising wages increased following mandatory increases in minimum wages in California.
McDonald's and other restaurants have tried to attract more cautious consumers with menu deals as the price of eating out rises compared with eating at home.
Home and car insurance inflation also remains stubbornly high. Household insurance premiums were up 10.1% from a year ago, while auto insurance was up 6%. Companies including Allstate and Progressive have said increased storm damage and more costly parts and labor for repairs are keeping prices high.
The housing market, particularly rent, has been one of the biggest drivers of services inflation. Overall housing costs rose 5.1% in September from a year ago. The travel sector is also facing sticky inflation. Air transportation costs rose 4.1% in September.
Prices for goods fell 1.2% in September and have been easing or cooling since late 2023, but pressure remains for food companies. Many of those companies are hesitant to pass along more price increases to consumers as people become more cautious about spending.
Overall, food and beverage prices rose 1.2% in September, with particularly big increases for items including milk, eggs and oils. Kraft-Heinz recently warned investors that inflation for things like coffee and dairy products will weigh on its margins and operating income for the year.
FILE - Fast food restaurant signs line Peach Street in Erie, Pa., Aug. 26, 2014. (Christopher Millette/Erie Times-News via AP, File)
Several large airstrikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs early Thursday, including one on a site adjacent to Lebanon’s only international airport. The Israeli military had issued an evacuation notice for the site, saying there were Hezbollah facilities there, without giving more details.
Also Thursday, the Israeli military announced it expanded its month-old ground operation in northern Gaza to include part of Beit Lahiya, a town that has been heavily bombed since the earliest days of the war, where Israel says Hamas militants have regrouped.
Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem said in a speech aired Wednesday that the Lebanese militant group is open for cease-fire negotiations only once “the enemy stops its aggression.” His speech marked the 40-day mourning period since former Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah was assassinated in Beirut.
Hezbollah began firing into Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, in solidarity with the Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip. Since the conflict erupted, more than 3,000 people have been killed and some 13,600 wounded in Lebanon, the Health Ministry reported.
The Israel-Hamas war began after Palestinian militants stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducting 250 others. Israel's military response in Gaza has killed more than 43,000 people, Palestinian health officials say. They do not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but say more than half of those killed were women and children.
Here’s the latest:
TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says its alliance of militant groups opposed to Israel remains strong despite the killing of many of their senior leaders.
“God willing, the world will see a day when the Zionist regime will be defeated by them,” Iranian state TV reported the leader as saying Thursday.
The report quoted Khamenei as saying that Hamas and other “leaders of the resistance” are “still fighting” even though some of their leaders have been killed by intensified Israel airstrikes.
Israeli strikes and military operations in recent months have killed the top leaders of both Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, as well as many of their senior commanders.
Both groups are part of the so-called Axis of Resistance, which includes other Iran-backed groups in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
Iran and its allies have repeatedly traded fire with Israel and the United States over the past year following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack, raising fears of a regional war.
JERUSALEM — Israel says it has reached an agreement to purchase 25 advanced F-15 fighter jets from U.S. aerospace giant Boeing for $5.2 billion.
The Defense Ministry said the agreement, concluded Wednesday, was part of a broader aid package approved by the U.S. government earlier this year. Deliveries will begin in 2031, and there’s an option for the purchase of an additional 25 aircraft.
The United States has provided crucial military support to Israel as it has battled Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and traded fire with Iran.
The Biden administration recently warned Israel that if it did not facilitate the delivery of more aid to Gaza, U.S. laws may force the administration to curb some of its military support.
The State Department said this week that Israel had yet to sufficiently improve aid deliveries ahead of a mid-November deadline.
President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to end the wars in the Middle East without saying how he plans to do it. He was a staunch supporter of Israel during his previous term but also cultivated close ties with Arab Gulf leaders.
RAMALLAH, West Bank — The Al Jazeera news network says the Israeli military has extended the order shutting down its bureau in the occupied West Bank.
Walid al-Omari, the network’s bureau chief, said Israeli troops raided the office in Ramallah again early Thursday and posted a notice extending the closure for an additional 45 days.
Israel had previously raided the office and shut it down on Sept. 22. Earlier this year, authorities took the rare step of barring the Qatar-based network from operating in Israel.
Israel accuses Al Jazeera of serving as a mouthpiece for Hamas, an allegation denied by the network. Last month, Israel accused six Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza of being Palestinian militants, which the network also denied.
Al-Jazeera has provided near 24-hour coverage from inside Gaza since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, with a heavy focus on the war’s toll among Palestinian civilians. Several of its correspondents have been killed or wounded by Israeli forces.
It also routinely airs unedited Hamas videos showing attacks on Israeli forces and hostages speaking under duress.
Israel’s parliament passed a law early Thursday that would allow it to deport family members of Palestinian attackers, including the country’s own citizens, to the war-ravaged Gaza Strip or other locations.
The law, which was championed by members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party and his far-right allies, passed with a 61-41 vote but is likely to be challenged in court.
It would apply to Palestinian citizens of Israel and residents of annexed east Jerusalem who knew about their family members’ attacks beforehand or who “express support or identification with the act of terrorism.”
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JERUSALEM — The Israeli military has expanded its month-old ground operation in northern Gaza to a town that has been heavily bombed since the earliest days of the war.
The military said in a statement Thursday that “troops started to operate” in the area of Beit Lahiya after intelligence indicated the presence of militants there. Hamas has repeatedly regrouped in areas where the military already conducted major operations.
The town in the northwestern corner of Gaza was among the first targets of the ground invasion launched over a year ago, after Hamas’ attack into southern Israel. The northern third of the territory has been encircled by Israeli forces since then.
Israel launched another major offensive in nearby Jabaliya, a decades-old urban refugee camp, in early October. It has sharply restricted the amount of aid entering northern Gaza and ordered a full evacuation. Tens of thousands have fled to nearby Gaza City in the latest mass displacement of the war.
BEIRUT — Several large airstrikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs early Thursday, including one on a site adjacent to Lebanon’s only international airport.
The Israeli military had earlier issued an evacuation notice for the site, saying that there were Hezbollah facilities there, without giving more details.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Beirut’s airport has not been directly targeted in the war between Israel and Hezbollah, and national air carrier Middle East Airlines has continued to operate commercial flights.
For more Middle East news: https://apnews.com/hub/middle-east
Smoke and fire rise from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Lebanon, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike on Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Israelis light a bonfire during a protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu near his residence in Jerusalem, a day after he dismissed his defence minister Yoav Gallant, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Smoke and fire rise from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Lebanon, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
