Inflation ticked up in September following a dip in August, according to new figures from the Bureau of Economic Analysis released Thursday.
The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, the Federal Reserve's favored inflation gauge, increased by 0.5 percent last month and was 3.6 percent higher than in September 2025.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland had forecast PCE inflation for the month at a 0.5 percent rise month-over-month and a 3.6 percent gain versus September 2025.
Annual PCE inflation had fallen from 3.7 percent in July to 3.4 percent in August.
Gas and other energy items posted a 9.2 percent jump from August to September, after a 4.4 percent rise from July to August.
Energy and gasoline prices have climbed in six of the nine months this year, a trend linked to the Iran war and the Islamic Republic's limits on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
Persistent inflation, staying above the Fed's 2 percent target for five-and-a-half years, led officials to raise interest rates by a quarter point in mid-September.
Nevertheless, the Federal Open Market Committee voted 10-2 on Wednesday to keep rates in the 3.75 percent to 4 percent band.
Following the vote, Fed Chair Kevin Warsh said the weeks before the next FOMC meeting in early December will "provide more clarity" on the "appropriate protocol" for monetary policy.
"What we've done in this monetary medicine, it's starting to work some, but there's no firm conclusions," Warsh said, referring to the September rate hike. "If we had a firm conclusion about the conduct of monetary policy, we'd announce it to much fanfare today."
