Sep 30, 2026 · 11 min · 10 segments
What does inflation look like from inside the C-suite? In this episode of ExecutiveEDGE, we move beyond the economic forecasts and look at what executives across industries are saying about the costs…
In their own words, C-suites talk about where inflation is right now.
Written by Urta Lombarda, September 23, 2026.
Published to executive.endeavoredge.com. Before and after the Federal Open Market Committee raised its benchmark interest rate, the conversation centered far more on inflation factoring into a possible decision than the Fed's other mandate, maximum employment.
On the latter front, more economists and Fed officials have grown confident that the economy is in solid shape.
On prices, though, opinion is coalescing around the idea that increases in energy prices are sticking around and that their secondary and tertiary effects are clearly working their way through the U.S. economy.
The Federal Open Market Committee members knowledged as much as they took up their 2026 inflation forecast to 3.7%, while leaving their outlook for next at 2.3%.
Some other measures also don't look great.
Import prices in August were up 7 percent from a year earlier, which was the fastest increase in four years.
Construction input prices are nearly 9 percent higher than a year ago.
And the Congressional Budget Office said recently that higher oil prices stemming from the Trump administration's war with Iran will push up early 2027 inflation by half a percentage point from its previous forecast.
That's a synopsis of the economic and policy side of the inflation debate in mid-September 2026.
But what's happening in the trenches? Thankfully, we've been able to drop in on a handful of the investment bank conferences over the past weeks to collect a sample of what large company executives are seeing and doing.
For most leadership teams, these conversations provided the last commentary we'll get from them before quarterly earnings starting late next month.
The tone? Not upbeat.
Here are some of the things we heard when it comes to inflation and cost pressures from CEOs and other senior executives in a variety of sectors.
In their own words, C-suites talk about where inflation is right now.
Written by Urta Lombarda, September 23, 2026.
Published to executive.endeavoredge.com. Before and after the Federal Open Market Committee raised its benchmark interest rate, the conversation centered far more on inflation factoring into a possible decision than the Fed's other mandate, maximum employment.
On the latter front, more economists and Fed officials have grown confident that the economy is in solid shape.
On prices, though, opinion is coalescing around the idea that increases in energy prices are sticking around and that their secondary and tertiary effects are clearly working their way through the U.S. economy.
The Federal Open Market Committee members knowledged as much as they took up their 2026 inflation forecast to 3.7%, while leaving their outlook for next at 2.3%.
Some other measures also don't look great.
Import prices in August were up 7 percent from a year earlier, which was the fastest increase in four years.
Construction input prices are nearly 9 percent higher than a year ago.
And the Congressional Budget Office said recently that higher oil prices stemming from the Trump administration's war with Iran will push up early 2027 inflation by half a percentage point from its previous forecast.
That's a synopsis of the economic and policy side of the inflation debate in mid-September 2026.
But what's happening in the trenches? Thankfully, we've been able to drop in on a handful of the investment bank conferences over the past weeks to collect a sample of what large company executives are seeing and doing.
For most leadership teams, these conversations provided the last commentary we'll get from them before quarterly earnings starting late next month.
The tone? Not upbeat.
Here are some of the things we heard when it comes to inflation and cost pressures from CEOs and other senior executives in a variety of sectors.
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