The consumer price index, which measures costs across a spectrum of goods and services, increased 0.2% in October. That took the 12-month inflation rate to 2.6%, up 0.2 percentage point from September.
The readings were both in line with the Dow Jones estimates.
Excluding food and energy, the move was even more pronounced. The core CPI accelerated 0.3% for the month – and was at 3.3% annually – also meeting forecasts.
Stock market futures nudged higher following the release of the data on Wednesday morning, while Treasury yields fell.
Following the FOMC’s meeting last Thursday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said economic data points to inflation “continuing to come down on a bumpy path.”
“One or two really good data months or bad data months aren’t going to really change the pattern at this point,” Powell said during a press conference.
While inflation has pulled back significantly from its pandemic-era peak of 9.1% in June 2022, there are still some trouble spots. For example, auto insurance prices, which are up 14% since October 2023, according to CPI data.
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