‘Core’ inflation rises at slowest pace since September 2021
The latest Consumer Prices Index report came in cooler than Wall Street expected.
Yahoo Finance’s Alexandra Canal reports:
Consumer prices were unchanged from the prior month in October as a drop in oil prices dragged down headline inflation while “core” inflation rose at the slowest annual pace since September 2021, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics released Tuesday morning.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) showed prices rose 0% over last month and 3.2% over the prior year in October, a deceleration from September’s 0.4% monthly increase and 3.7% annual gain in prices.
Economists had expected prices to increase 0.1% month-over-month and 3.3% year-over-year, according to data from Bloomberg.
As expected, lower energy costs held the headline figures to a smaller gain with energy prices dropping 2.5% month-over-month, driven by lower gas prices, which dropped 5% during the month of October.
On a “core” basis, which strips out the more volatile costs of food and gas, prices in October climbed 4.0% over last year — lower than the annual increase seen in September, according to Bloomberg data. Monthly core prices climbed 0.2%, also lower than September’s monthly rise.
Economists had expected core prices to rise 0.3% over the prior month and 4.1% over the prior year.
