Investing.com – Consumer price inflation (CPI) rose as expected in October, with the core data ticking up and reinforcing market bets that the Federal Reserve (Fed) will hike rates by the end of the year, official data showed on Wednesday.
In a report, the U.S. Commerce Department said that consumer prices rose 0.1% in October from a month earlier, in line with forecasts and compared to a 0.5% gain in the previous month.
Year-over-year, consumer prices increased 2.0% last month, also matching expectations and easing from the 2.2% advance seen in September.
Consumer prices, excluding food and energy costs, increased by a seasonally adjusted 0.2% last month, in line with consensus and compared to September’s 0.1% advance.
Furthermore, core CPI increased as expected at an annualized rate of 1.8% in October, beating forecasts that it would repeat the prior month’s reading of a 1.7% rise.
Core prices are viewed by the Federal Reserve (Fed) 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.
After the report, which was published simultaneously with October retail sales and the NY Empire State manufacturing index for November, EUR/USD was trading at 1.1853 from around 1.1838 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.3177, compared to 1.3171 previously, while USD/JPY was at 112.55 from 112.69 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 93.34, compared to 93.46 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower open. The Dow futures fell 114 points, or 0.49%, the S&P 500 futures lost 12 points, or 0.46%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures traded down 23 points, or 0.37%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,288.22 a troy ounce, compared to $1,287.08 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $55.05, compared to $55.09 prior to the release.