U.S. inflation comes in hotter than expected on rising gasoline, shelter costs

The U.S. annual inflation rose for the third consecutive month in September, although it was more of a rounding error (3.67 percent to 3.72 percent).

On a month-over-month basis, the consumer price index (CPI) jumped 0.4 percent, topping market estimates of 0.3 percent.

Core inflation, which removes the volatile energy and food components, remained above four percent, proving that inflation is sticky and not transitory.

Energy was a big factor in the CPI, with gasoline costs rising more than two percent monthly. Shelter also climbed 0.6 percent, though economists note that rents are in freefall mode, so there could be a lagging effect transpiring.

Here is a breakdown of the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) indexes:

This comes one day after producer prices climbed higher than expected and were revised in previous months.