"Now this is one month. We don’t know if it’s the start of a trend, but the overall inflation rate did moderate in the month of August," says Dr. Walden, a specialist with the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service.

"The rate is about two and a half percent on an annualized basis. This is true both for the overall rate as well as what’s called the core rate," he adds. "This is much better, much more modest than in previous months.

"It actually goes along with the view that if economic growth is moderating, it should cool off the inflationary pressures. And, of course, this is just what the Federal Reserve wants to happen. As a result, the last time the Fed met, they did not raise interest rates for the second straight time period.

"So we’ll obviously have to keep watch of this," Walden concludes. "But if this is the start of a trend toward moderating inflation, that means probably the Fed can ease up on their interest rate policy. And we may even see lower interest rate policies in the next three to six months."