The Consumer Price Index (CPI) of the United States advanced 0.4% in October on a monthly basis, a more moderate increase than the 0.6% recorded in September, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the Department of Labor (BLS, for its acronym in English). On this occasion, the agency has not provided the year-on-year variation because it was affected by the federal Administration shutdown that lasted throughout October 2025 and did not end until November 10.
Within the overall index, energy rose 0.7% during the month, after the sharp increase of 5.2% recorded in September, while food registered an increase of 0.5%. In the case of housing, prices increased 0.3% compared with September.
On the other hand, core inflation, which excludes the most volatile components such as energy and food, rebounded 0.3% in October, the same monthly variation observed in August and September.
"The BLS did not collect survey data for October 2025 due to a lack of assignments. For most CPI series, the BLS was unable to publish the October 2025 indexes. As a result, the BLS cannot publish the 12-month percentage changes for October 2026 for the indexes for which October 2025 data is not available," the agency reports.
As a consequence, the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) will face its next monetary policy meeting, scheduled for December 8 and 9, without new annual references from the CPI, since the corresponding data for November will not be released until December 10.
Thus, the latest year-on-year rate available for the U.S. central bank will continue to be that of September, when inflation climbed to 3.7% year-on-year. Even so, the Fed will pay attention to the behavior of the annual rates and to the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index for October, whose release is set for November 25.
At its October meeting, the Federal Reserve decided to keep interest rates unchanged after having set the target range in September between 3.75% and 4%. However, several members of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) and the market analysts’ consensus expect a new hike at the December meeting.