Inflation rises 2.6% in October, in line with expectations

Inflation ticked slightly higher in October as prices remained stubbornly high for consumers, giving Federal Reserve policymakers more data to consider ahead of their meeting next month.

The Labor Department on Wednesday said that the consumer price index (CPI) – a broad measure of how much everyday goods like gasoline, groceries and rent cost – rose 0.2% in October from the prior month and was up 2.6% from a year ago.

Economists polled by LSEG predicted that inflation would come in at 0.2% in October while ticking up to 2.6% on an annual basis. The annual figure was up compared with a month ago, when the headline rate was 2.4%, while the monthly price growth was unchanged from September.

So-called core prices, which exclude more volatile measurements of gasoline and food to better assess price growth trends, were up 0.3% on a monthly basis in October and 3.3% from a year ago – both of which were unchanged compared with last month’s readings.

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