Amherst Pierpont chief economist....>

US DATA PREVIEW: Amherst Pierpont chief economist Stephen Stanley eyed the

Friday 8:30am ET Sept. CPI and said that "as usual, the headline CPI index will

be dominated by the energy component in September. In the wake of Hurricane

Harvey, gasoline prices surged in September at a time of year when they are

normally falling. As a result, the seasonally adjusted rise in gasoline prices

should easily reach double digits. In turn, the overall energy component may

post an increase of well over 5% and driver the headline CPI to a 0.5% or 0.6%

increase." 

- He said he's "going with 0.6%, in line with the consensus, but my forecast on

an unrounded basis is a very low 0.6% and thus could easily round down to 0.5%

(thought it doesn't seem that the interpretation of the result will differ much

between a 0.5% or 0.6% rise."

- He adds that meanwhile, food prices may have risen by 0.1%, the same as in

August."