October Inflation Report Shows Consumer Prices Rose 7.7% From Year Earlier

Inflation eased in October as underlying price increases excluding energy and food slowed from a four-decade high.

The Labor Department on Thursday said that its consumer-price index increased 7.7% in October from the same month a year ago, the smallest 12-month increase since January 2022. The reading was down from 8.2% in September. June’s 9.1% inflation rate was the highest in four decades.

On a monthly basis, the CPI rose 0.4% in October from September, the same pace as the previous month. The CPI measures what consumers pay for goods and services.

The so-called core CPI—which excludes volatile energy and food prices—climbed 6.3% in October from a year earlier, down from 6.6% in September, which was the biggest increase since August 1982.

Investors and policy makers watch core readings closely as a reflection of broad price pressures and as a predictor of future inflation. On a monthly basis, the core CPI rose 0.3% in October, down sharply from 0.6% in September and August.

The October inflation report could keep Federal Reserve officials on track to approve a half-percentage-point interest-rate increase next month and to pencil in slightly higher rates next year than they had anticipated previously.