An uptick in September inflation as the US midterm elections approach has pushed the cost-of-living debate back to the centre of the agenda for Democrats seeking to regain control of Congress from Republicans.

Annual inflation stood at 3.7% in September, according to the Consumer Price Index published by the Bureau of Labour Statistics, with energy, petrol, and electricity costs rising on a monthly basis.

Food prices remained flat from August to September, recording a 2.5% increase compared with the same period last year.

Democrats are anchoring their election campaigns to pledges of easing the cost of living, blaming the price increases on President Donald Trump’s tariffs and the war with Iran.

Trump and Republicans, pointing to the numerous left-wing candidates who won primary elections this year, contend that the opposition has become captive to “communists” within the party.

When annual inflation stood at 2.4% in February, the US and Israel launched the Iran war on the final day of that month, and prices continued to climb throughout the conflict.

The recent acceleration has not entirely reversed the retreat from the 40-year peak of 9.1% recorded in June 2022; however, the rate has remained above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target for over five years.

Fed policymakers raised the benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point last month, citing the battle against stubborn inflation. Officials will convene again next week to consider whether to raise rates or hold them within the 3.75% to 4% target range.

Energy and fuel record sharpest increase since first month of war

In September, energy prices posted their largest monthly jump since March, the first full month of the war with Iran, climbing 20.4% year-on-year. Energy costs had risen 2.1% from July to August, after falling 1.5% from June to July and 5.7% from May to June.

Recent escalations in Iranian attacks on oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, alongside more frequent strikes by Ukrainian forces against Russian refineries, have strained global crude oil and refined product markets, driving up US petrol and diesel prices.

Petrol prices also recorded their sharpest monthly increase since the first month of the war, climbing 9.1% from August to September, bringing the annual increase to 35.3%.

American Automobile Association (AAA) data shows the average price of regular petrol across the US stands at $4.26 per gallon; while below the level of roughly $4.48 recorded a month ago, it remains more than $1.20 higher than a year earlier. Average gallon prices exceed $6 in California and $5 in both Washington state and Nevada.

Electricity prices rose 0.2% from August to September, offsetting the 0.2% decline between July and August, and were up 4.4% year-on-year.

Heavy power demand from new data centres is feeding through into local household electricity bills. Trump argued that companies must cover the cost of the electricity required by their data centres themselves.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump claimed that he was requiring large data centres to generate their own power and feed the surplus back into the local grid, suggesting this could bring about “a major drop” in electricity prices.

Used vehicle market posts monthly rise as food costs stabilise

The cost of food at home fell 0.1% month-on-month in September, while dining out increased 0.2%.

Egg prices dropped to $2.27 a dozen, falling roughly 35% compared with September 2025 and remaining well below the 20-year peak of $6.23 recorded in March 2025.

Ground beef prices rose roughly 2.4% compared with September 2025, but at $6.48 a pound, they remained below the 20-year high of $6.98 reached in June.

Chicken held steady at its year-earlier level of $2.06 per pound last month, having fluctuated between $2.01 and $2.09 since November 2024.

Used car and truck prices fell 1.5% compared with September 2025, but rose 0.7% month-on-month in September following 0.4% increases in both July and August.

Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, noted that the sector faces severe pressure stemming from a combination of expensive replacement parts and a shortage of skilled labour.

Speaking to The Hill, Long emphasised that every cost pressure across the market is being felt directly at local auto repair shops.

Anthropic, developer of the artificial intelligence model Claude, reported a net loss of $80.7 billion for the first six months of 2026 ending 30 June.

According to a report by The Wall Street Journal citing the company’s draft initial public offering prospectus, this recorded loss nearly doubled the $42 billion loss incurred across the entirety of 2025.

The vast majority of that enormous figure, accounting for $72 billion, stemmed from accounting-driven book-value write-downs.

In contrast, the company saw a sharp surge in revenue, with turnover in the first half of the year climbing to $16.3 billion from $1.1 billion in the same period of the prior year.

During this period, Anthropic spent approximately $9 billion on computing power and infrastructure needs, surpassing in just six months the $7.3 billion spent across the whole of 2025.

The company has commitments to pay roughly $450 billion over the next seven to 10 years under cloud service contracts.

Under these obligations, contracts are planned for $111 billion with Google Cloud, $110 billion with Amazon Web Services, and $31 billion with Microsoft.

Anthropic will also spend up to $86 billion by 2033 and 2034, respectively, to lease Nvidia chips through smaller AI-focused cloud providers Nscale and Lambda.

The company could spend an additional $750 billion in the coming years to expand its computing capacity.

Roughly a third of the draft IPO prospectus was dedicated directly to risk factors.

The document highlighted the possibility that models could cause tangible real-world harm, noting that artificial intelligence could exhibit a “self-preservation” tendency and produce responses resembling “blackmail”.

Anthropic warned that the scale of damage caused by an AI-driven “catastrophic event” could render insuring against such risks impossible.

According to market expectations, Anthropic’s IPO could rank among the largest transactions in history, potentially surpassing SpaceX’s record.

Following the market debut, the company’s market valuation is projected to reach up to $2 trillion.

Democrats in the US plan to launch sweeping corruption inquiries into President Donald Trump’s administration and billionaire businessman Elon Musk if they win a House of Representatives majority in November’s midterm elections.

According to Politico, the potential inquiries would focus on Musk’s activities leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), his companies’ multi-billion-dollar federal contracts, and his role in restricting the Ukrainian military’s access to the Starlink satellite network.

Pramila Jayapal, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said: “What happens when somebody gets a massive contract with the government and then uses it to cut off communications during a war that is critical to the US’s support of Ukraine? There are so many different manifestations of corruption around Musk.”

The disruptions to Starlink terminals in Ukraine emerged during a period of friction between the US and Ukraine.

Musk maintained that Starlink cannot be used for offensive military actions, while Starshield, the defence-focused protected network, is owned and operated by the US government, with any restrictions imposed by Washington.

Sources cited by The Telegraph claimed Musk suggested restricting Starlink terminals in Ukraine to Trump, who approved the proposal. US President Donald Trump stated that neither he nor Musk blocked Ukraine’s Starlink access.

House committees take action

Sara Guerrero, spokesperson for House Oversight Committee member Robert Garcia, said: “We have a lot of questions about Elon Musk’s role in DOGE and plan to conduct an investigation.”

Some Democratic lawmakers have already begun preparations. In September, Democrats on the Homeland Security Committee demanded sworn testimony from Musk regarding a report alleging DOGE exaggerated its budget savings.

The Budget Committee called for an investigation into allegations that data was stolen from the Social Security Administration system in connection with DOGE.

Zoe Lofgren, a member of the Science, Space, and Technology Committee, indicated that committee members would “learn in more detail about the harm DOGE has done to scientific agencies.”

Lofgren said Musk helped facilitate “the systematic liquidation of government programmes” and that the conflicts of interest recorded during his tenure reached striking proportions.

The Oversight Committee, noted as having the most powerful investigative staff among congressional panels, also aims to examine Musk’s deals.

One of the panel’s lawyer members described the situation by stating: “A third of the members are lawyers, and we see lawlessness and deliberate violations of the law.”

Hundreds of millions of dollars in donations to the Republican Party

Politico reported that Musk, who openly backed the Republican Party in the upcoming elections, became one of its largest financial benefactors by donating at least $276 million to party committees and candidates.

Oversight Committee member Greg Casar stressed the need to unravel the quid-pro-quo nature of the influence Musk obtained.

“Our committees must oversee both the Trump administration and the corporations and ultra-wealthy who are trying to buy our government. Elon Musk is at the top of that list,” Casar said.

The Department of Government Efficiency was established under one of the first executive orders signed by Trump when he took office on 20 January 2025, aimed at slashing public spending and restructuring federal agencies.

Musk, appointed to lead the department, left his post at the end of May following the expiry of his contract and disputes over an omnibus legislative package proposed by Trump.

Originally slated to operate until July 2026, DOGE was dissolved in November 2025, eight months before its term was due to end. Politico noted that following Musk’s departure, the department lost its government influence and numerous key staff members stepped down.