US consumer prices rise 0.4% in October, and the BLS cannot publish an annual rate

US consumer prices rose 0.4% in October from September on a seasonally adjusted basis, after a 0.6% rise in September, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Tuesday. The agency could not publish most annual rates this month because it collected no data in October 2025.

No annual rate this month, so the monthly trail carries the story

The BLS said it did not collect survey data for October 2025 because of a lapse in appropriations, and so it "cannot publish 12-month percent changes for October 2026 for indexes where October 2025 data are unavailable." The headline all-items index is one of them: its annual rate, which readers usually follow, does not appear in the release.

What the release does show is the monthly path. All-items prices rose 0.4% in October, 0.6% in September and 0.4% in August, all seasonally adjusted. The 0.4% was higher than the 0.3% that economists expected, CNBC reported.

Energy slowed sharply, but it still rose

The energy index increased 0.7% in October after a 5.2% jump in September, the BLS said. Gasoline rose 1.0% on a seasonally adjusted basis after 9.1% the month before. Before seasonal adjustment, gasoline prices fell 0.7% in October, so the seasonal factors, not the pump, turned the monthly figure positive.

Electricity rose 0.9%, while the natural gas index fell 0.8%.

Core prices held at 0.3% for a third month

The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.3% in October, as it did in September and August. Shelter, the largest component, increased 0.3% after a 0.4% rise in September, and the BLS said it accounted for over thirty percent of the monthly all-items increase. Owners' equivalent rent rose 0.3% and rent rose 0.2%. Lodging away from home rose 0.6% after a 2.0% jump in September.

Other core prices pushed up as well: recreation rose 0.8%, motor vehicle insurance 0.7% and medical care 0.3%. Used cars and trucks fell 1.2% after rising 0.7% in September, and the index for communication also decreased.

Food prices rose 0.5%, led by restaurants and beef

Food prices rose 0.5% in October after being unchanged in September. Food at home rose 0.4%, with beef up 0.9% and snacks up 1.0%, and food away from home rose 0.5%, the BLS said.

Two dates will frame the Fed's next decision

The next CPI release, for November, is scheduled for Thursday, December 10, 2026, at 8:30 a.m. ET, the BLS said. The Federal Reserve's policy committee meets on December 8-9, according to the Fed's calendar, so that report arrives the day after the meeting ends.

We would read three steady core months as a floor, not a trend

We think the October report says less about a new surge than about prices that are not yet cooling. Energy supplied the September shock and gave back most of its pace in October, yet core prices still advanced 0.3% for the third month running, and shelter, which moves slowly, made up over thirty percent of the rise.

The opportunity is that the energy swing is fading; the threat is that a steady 0.3% core pace leaves little room for the Fed to look past the headline. Because the missing October 2025 data hide the annual rate, we would weigh the monthly core figures more than any comparison with a year ago. We expect the picture to stay unclear if November core prices again come in at 0.3%, and we would change our view if core slows to 0.2% or lower while shelter eases.

The view in this final section is FinanceInTime's editorial opinion, for information only. It is not investment, tax, legal or other advice, and it does not take your circumstances into account. Forecasts are uncertain and past results do not guarantee future ones.