In a development that will surprise absolutely no one who has recently purchased a carton of eggs, this week's economic news arrived as a mixed Halloween bag: GDP growth is up, prices are up, and interest rates are holding steady for now. With midterm races extremely tight and the economy consistently ranking as a top issue driving voters to the polls, the timing is less trick-or-treat and more trick.

NPR's Scott Horsley joined us to explain. Affordability, that word we hear over and over and over again, remains a challenge. The Commerce Department clocked September inflation at 3.6% - higher than the month before and, significantly, higher than when President Trump returned to the White House. That's a big reason nearly two-thirds of Americans disapprove of the president's economic stewardship. Voters punished Democrats for inflation in 2024; they may decide to punish Republicans this time around. Democracy: still undefeated at passing the buck.

Yet there's the seeming contradiction: the latest numbers show the economy is growing. GDP grew at an annual rate of 3.4% in July, August and September, up from 2.2% the previous quarter. Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh called it "a good sign," adding that "the economy is strong" and "pointing in the right direction." But a lot of that growth is driven by huge investment in artificial intelligence. If you build data centers for a living, you're pretty busy these days; otherwise, this burst of economic growth has not been accompanied by a burst of new jobs.

The job market is still really sluggish. Employers added just 29,000 jobs in September - October numbers arrive this coming week. Even though unemployment is low at just 4.2%, most people don't feel confident that if they quit their job, they can find another one, so they're staying put. Moody's Analytics Chief Economist Mark Zandi says that means there's not much pressure on employers to raise wages. "There's no hiring," he said. "Hiring rates are extraordinarily low, and that's just not consistent with a healthy labor market." Wages are growing more slowly than they used to; September figures show spending rose 2.5 times as fast as wages did. Hence the affordability concern.

And the housing market is still haunted by high mortgage rates. Even though the Fed did not raise short-term borrowing costs this week, longer-term rates are still high - the average 30-year home loan is around 7.25%. Zandi had been hopeful rates would hang around 6%, which would have started the housing market to fall (in a good way) with more home sales. Instead, fixed-rate mortgages are well north of 7%. "Housing is the most interest rate sensitive sector of the economy," he said, "and it is taking it on the chin." The housing component of GDP has been negative in 8 of the last 10 quarters.

If the cobwebs on the for-sale signs get too spooky, at least Horsley can treat himself with one of those Reese's peanut butter cups from the $19 bag he bought to hand out this Halloween - a purchase that itself is a small lesson in affordability.