Consumer prices rose 2.6 percent in October from a year ago, up from the previous month and reversing some of the recession experienced in recent months. US Bureau of Labor Statistics Wednesday’s data showed. The new report matched economists’ expectations.

The latest update provided a look at the price increases a little more than a week after the issue emerged Help former President Donald Trump won re-election. The data snapped a six-month streak of cooling inflation.

Core inflation — a closely watched measure that strips out volatile food and energy prices — rose 3.3 percent in the year to October, flat from the previous month, the data showed.

Food prices rose 2.1% in the year to October, marking a slower rise than the overall rate.

Prices have fallen over the past year for some common food items, such as white bread, bacon and bananas. However, the price of eggs has risen by 30% compared to the previous year, mainly due to an outbreak of bird flu that has decimated supply.

Gasoline prices provided a bright spot in Wednesday’s report, falling more than 12 percent in the year to October. Gasoline prices typically fall in the last months of the calendar year as drivers cut back on consumption after the busy summer travel season.

In general, inflation has cold dramatically since a peak of 9% was reached in 2022, which is now approaching the Federal Reserve’s target rate of 2%.

The slowdown in price growth has coincided with robust economic growth, setting the dual conditions necessary for the US to achieve a “soft landing.”

Still, Fed policymakers forecast inflation will fall to normal levels next year and reach the central bank’s target rate in 2026, according to forecasts. ISSUED in September.

EDF cut interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point last week. The move came two months after Fed cut benchmark interest rate to half a percentage point, slowing the fight against inflation since it began in 2021.

The Fed is guided by a dual mandate to keep inflation under control and maximize employment. In theory, lower interest rates help stimulate economic activity and boost employment.

While the central bank’s concern about inflation has eased in recent months, a renewed focus on the labor market has come to the fore. Employment continued to grow, but increased slowed down in recent months. The unemployment rate rose from 3.7% to 4.1% this year.

“We remain confident that with an appropriate recalibration of our policy stance, the strength of the economy and the labor market can be maintained, with inflation falling sustainably to 2%,” Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said at a news conference in Washington, DC. last week.

Even though inflation has slowed, this progress has not reversed a spike in prices dating back to the pandemic. Since President Joe Biden took office in 2021, consumer prices have skyrocketed by more than 20 percent.

The price increases appeared to fuel support for Trump in last week’s election. More than two-thirds of voters say the economy is in bad shape, according to preliminary results from ABC News exit poll.

However, Trump’s proposed tariff hikes and mass deportation of undocumented immigrants could reignite rapid price increases, some experts said before ABC News.

Asked last week about the Fed’s potential response to Trump’s policies, Powell said the central bank would make its decisions based on how any policy change could affect the economy.

“In the short term, the election will have no effect on our policy decisions,” Powell said said Thursday. “We don’t know what the timing and substance of any policy changes will be. Therefore, we do not know what the effects on the economy will be.”

“We don’t guess, we don’t speculate and we don’t assume,” Powell added.