US inflation continued to push prices up in October, marking the highest monthly rate of increase since April.
The Consumer Price Index rose 0.2% in October, in line with the previous month, the Labor Department said Wednesday. The unrounded price rose 0.244%, marking the first time since April that the unrounded figure has exceeded 2%.
This was the third consecutive month of 0.2% increase from the previous month. Compared to the same month last year, the inflation rate rose to 2.6% from 2.4% recorded in September.
Core prices excluding food and energy rose by 0.3%, up 3.3% from the previous year.
House prices rose 0.4%, accounting for more than half of the total increase. Food prices rose 0.2%, grocery prices rose 0.1% and eating out prices rose 0.2%.
The increase was in line with economists' expectations. The rise in core prices has been consistent with the rise in median inflation, a measure of underlying price pressures, which has remained stable over the past three months.
If October's inflation rate were maintained for 12 months, the annual rate would be 3%. This is the highest monthly annualized rate since April. The annualized core inflation rate for the month was 3.4%, down from the 3.8% recorded in September.
