Inflation cools in October as the Fed continues its outsize rate hikes

• The Consumer Price Index rose 7.7% in the year through October.
• That falls below what economists expected to see.

From the supermarket to paying the rent, high prices have been slamming Americans, but inflation is coming down.

Inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index rose 7.7% year-over-year in October, according to data out Thursday from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That is less than the 8.0% estimate from economists surveyed by Bloomberg. October's year-over-year change falls below September's year-over-year growth of 8.2%.

BLS wrote in Thursday's release that "this was the smallest 12-month increase since the period ending January 2022."

Just over the month, seasonally-adjusted CPI increased 0.4% in October, less than the 0.6% forecast by economists surveyed by Bloomberg and same as the month-over-month increase of 0.4% seen a month prior in September.

Core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, increased 6.3% in October from the same time a year ago. That means it is below the 6.5% year-over-year change economists expected to see. It's also a a slowdown from the 6.6% increase in the year through September.

After sliding in the past few months, energy prices increased 17.6% in October from the same time a year ago. On a seasonally adjusted basis, it saw a one-month rise of 1.8% in October.

Shelter saw its largest one-month increase since August 1990 per the news release. It rose 0.8% in October.

Not seasonally adjusted food prices increased 10.9% from the same time a year ago. Food prices are still high but the year-over-year change in October falls below the year-over-year increase seen in September.

Not seasonally adjusted used cars and trucks prices increased 2.0% over the year, which is a massive slowdown from the 7.2% seen in the year through September. On a seasonally adjusted basis, this fell 2.4% over the month, a big drop from the 1.1% decline seen in September.

Seasonally adjusted medical care services prices fell 0.6% in October. That follows September's 1.0% increase.

The Fed increased interest rates by 0.75 percentage points for the fourth straight time last week as it tries to deal with inflation.

"The Federal Reserve's tools work to lower inflation by reducing demand for economic activities sensitive to interest rates," Sherrod Brown, chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, wrote in a letter to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. "However, a family's 'pocketbook' needs have little to do with interest rates, and potential job losses brought about by monetary over-tightening will only worsen these matters for the working class."