Consumer prices are still rising very fast, defying the Federal Reserve’s efforts to tame inflation.
The consumer price index climbed 3.7 percent in September from a year earlier, the Labor Department said Thursday.
Economists had forecast a rise of 3.6 percent, down from 3.7 percent in August.
Compared with August, the consumer price index was up 0.4 percent. A month earlier, prices climbed 0.6 percent for the month, the biggest month-to-month increase since June of 2022.
Economists were expecting the monthly figure to rise 0.3 percent.
Inflation has slowed sharply from the recent peak of 9.1 percent annually and 1.8 percent monthly in June 2022, when gasoline prices hit an average of $5 per gallon, food prices soared 10.4 percent, and the average price of new cars was up 11.4 percent.
Core CPI, which excludes food and energy, rose 0.3 percent in August, matching the prior month’s increase. Compared with a year ago, core prices are up 4.1 percent, down slightly from 4.3 percent in the prior month. Both core measures matched expectations.