by Theleaders | November 11, 2026 11:20 am
NEW YORK, Nov 11 — US inflation data released yesterday slowed slightly in October but still overshot analyst estimates, raising expectations for further Federal Reserve interest rate hikes.
The consumer price index for October rose 0.4 per cent from September, down from the prior month’s 0.6 per cent increase, according to Labor Department data. Analysts had projected a 0.3 per cent increase.
The improvement from the prior month reflected a significant moderation in energy price increases from September. The prior CPI report had shown the effects of a big jump in fuel prices following renewed clashes in the US-Iran war over the summer.
But food prices shot higher in October, along with medical care, household furnishings and several other categories.
The report follows last week’s US midterm elections in which voters turned sharply against President Donald Trump’s Republican Party in part due to persistent inflation.
The Labor Department was unable to translate the figures into a year-over-year number because there was no report in October 2025 due to a government shutdown. But the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland estimated the jump as 3.8 per cent, well above the Fed’s 2 per cent target.
The report “sets the stage for a December Fed hike,” read the headline on a note from Oxford Economics.
“Though energy prices moderated as expected, it was food inflation that drove the forecast miss of last month’s headline CPI,” Oxford Economics said in the note.
“Grocery-store inflation accelerated notably after a string of quiescent readings, underscoring the lags between energy price shocks and nonenergy consumer prices.”
Price hikes for energy slowed significantly compared with the prior report, with the gasoline index rising 1 per cent — far below the 9.1 per cent spike in September from August.
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