Inflation is running hot.
In fact, inflation picked up again in September, giving Americans another reason to watch their budgets and giving the Federal Reserve less room to offer relief on interest rates.
The Consumer Price Index, or CPI, showed that consumer prices rose 3.7% over the past year, up from 3.4% in August. Prices increased 0.6% during September alone, compared with a 0.4% increase the previous month. Gasoline accounted for more than half of that monthly jump.
Gasoline was the biggest problem in September, rising 9.1% on a seasonally adjusted basis. There was some relief at the grocery store. Food prices overall were unchanged, while grocery prices slipped 0.1%. That helps, although a small monthly decline hardly erases the increases households have absorbed over time.
Economists also watch “core” inflation, which excludes food and energy because those prices can swing sharply. Core prices rose 0.3% in September and 2.6% over the past year, compared with an annual increase of 2.4% in August. That suggests the inflation challenge extends beyond filling up the gas tank.
One way to trade that news is with the Avantis Inflation Focused Equity ETF (AVIE).
With inflation running hot, the AVIE ETF, which has an expense ratio of 0.25%, rallied from a January 2026 low of about $65 to a current price of $80.62. That’s because it has historically invested in sectors that are safe when inflation rises. At the moment, its portfolio holds 362 stocks, with energy and healthcare accounting for about 58% of its holdings.
Some of its top holdings include Berkshire Hathaway, Exxon Mobil, Procter & Gamble, Eli Lilly, UnitedHealth, Philip Morris, and Coca-Cola to name just a few. And it pays a quarterly dividend. Its most recent one for just over 29 cents was paid on September 8. Before that, it paid a dividend of just over 30 cents per share on June 9. And before that, it paid out just over 22 cents per share on March 10.
We can also look at the VanEck Real Assets ETF (RAAX).
Since the start of the year, the RAAX ETF rallied from about $35 to a current price of $40.85. With an expense ratio of 0.55%, it’s done well with growth-oriented assets, income producing assets, and capital preservation assets, such as the VanEck Commodity Strategy ETF, VanEck Merk Gold Shares, The Williams Cos., Kinder Morgan, Marathon Petroleum, and Valero Energy Corp., to name a few of its 120 holdings.
It also pays a healthy yearly dividend. On December 31, it paid out just over 81 cents per share. On December 30, it paid out just over 53 cents per share. And on December 29, it paid out just over 93 cents per share.
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