Investing.com - Consumer price inflation in the U.S. was unchanged in October from a month earlier, while prices excluding food and energy costs inched up modestly, official data showed on Thursday.
In a report, the U.S. Department of Labor said that consumer prices were flat last month, compared to estimates for a decline of 0.1% and following a gain of 0.1% in September.
Year-over-year, consumer prices rose at an annualized rate of 1.7% in October, above expectations for a 1.6% reading and unchanged from September.
Consumer prices, excluding food and energy costs, increased by a seasonally adjusted 0.2% in October, in line with expectations. Core consumer prices inched up 0.1% in September.
Core CPI increased at annualized rate of 1.8% in October, meeting forecasts and up from 1.7% in September.
Core prices are viewed by the Federal Reserve as a better gauge of longer-term inflationary pressure because they exclude the volatile food and energy categories. The central bank usually tries to aim for 2% core inflation or less.
EUR/USD was trading at 1.2513 from around 1.2539 ahead of the release of the data, while GBP/USD was at 1.5680 from 1.5701 earlier.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a modestly lower open. The Dow futures pointed to a loss of 0.45% at the open, the S&P 500 futures dipped 0.3%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures lost 0.4%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,190.00 a troy ounce, compared to $1,189.40 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $74.50 a barrel from $74.67 earlier.