U.S. consumer prices up 0.4 percent in October

The Labor Department announced on Wednesday the U.S. consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.4 percent m-o-m in October, after being unchanged in the previous month. That was the highest monthly inflation since March.

Over the last 12 months, the CPI rose 1.8 percent y-o-y last month, following a 1.7 percent m-o-m gain in the 12 months through September.

Economists had forecast the CPI to increase 0.3 percent m-o-m and 1.7 percent y-o-y in the 12-month period.

According to the report, the energy index climbed 2.7 percent m-o-m in October after recent monthly declines and accounted for more than half of the increase in the seasonally adjusted all items index; the gains in the indexes for medical care (+1.0 percent m-o-m), for recreation (+0.7 percent m-o-m), and for food (+0.2 percent m-o-m) also contributed.

Meanwhile, the core CPI excluding volatile food and fuel costs advanced 0.2 percent m-o-m in October, following a 0.1 percent m-o-m gain in the previous month.

In the 12 months through October, the core CPI rose 2.3 percent, decelerating from +2.4 percent in the 12 months ending September.

Economists had forecast the core CPI to rise 0.2 percent m-o-m and 2.4 percent y-o-y last month.