Millions of Americans recently received unwelcome news about their cell phone bills.
In late June, T-Mobile (TMUS) said it was retiring over 1,000 older plans, shifting customers to newer offerings at an added cost of as much as $6 per line per month. And starting in August, AT&T (T) hiked rates on some of its older plans by $10 to $20 and increased a monthly per-line fee by $1.
The changes contributed to a steep 5.9% jump in Americans' wireless bills from July to August alone, according to Consumer Price Index data. It was the largest single-month jump since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking the category nearly three decades ago.
In a twist, last month's rising phone bills may have helped convince the Federal Reserve to implement its first interest rate hike in three years. The steep price jump likely contributed about 10 basis points of August's 0.3% month-over-month rise in core consumer prices, according to Wall Street ***** ysts. The hotter-than-expected jump in this category, which strips out price changes in the particularly volatile food and energy sectors, helped cement expectations for the Fed's 25 basis point hike to benchmark rates last Wednesday.
Read more: How the Fed rate decision affects your bank accounts, loans, credit cards, and investments
#month #americans #august #older
In late June, T-Mobile (TMUS) said it was retiring over 1,000 older plans, shifting customers to newer offerings at an added cost of as much as $6 per line per month. And starting in August, AT&T (T) hiked rates on some of its older plans by $10 to $20 and increased a monthly per-line fee by $1.
The changes contributed to a steep 5.9% jump in Americans' wireless bills from July to August alone, according to Consumer Price Index data. It was the largest single-month jump since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking the category nearly three decades ago.
In a twist, last month's rising phone bills may have helped convince the Federal Reserve to implement its first interest rate hike in three years. The steep price jump likely contributed about 10 basis points of August's 0.3% month-over-month rise in core consumer prices, according to Wall Street ***** ysts. The hotter-than-expected jump in this category, which strips out price changes in the particularly volatile food and energy sectors, helped cement expectations for the Fed's 25 basis point hike to benchmark rates last Wednesday.
Read more: How the Fed rate decision affects your bank accounts, loans, credit cards, and investments
#month #americans #august #older
2 days ago
