US consumer inflation edged higher last month spurred by an increase in housing costs, according to government data published Wednesday, complicating the US Federal Reserve's plans to cut interest rates.
The consumer price index (CPI) rose to 2.6 percent in October from a year ago, up from 2.4 percent in September, the Labor Department said in a statement.
This was in line with the median forecast of economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
The increase puts a slight spanner in the works of the Federal Reserve, which recently began lowering interest rates in response to easing inflation, cutting by an additional quarter percentage-point last week.
At the same time as inflation has cooled, the labor market has shown some signs of cooling while remaining relatively healthy, and growth has remained robust -- all good signs for the world's largest economy.
A measure of inflation that strips out volatile food and energy costs hit 3.3 percent.
Monthly headline inflation rose by 0.2 percent, while core inflation increased by 0.3 percent. Both figures were the same as a month prior.
The housing index was responsible for more than half of the monthly rise in headline inflation, according to the Labor Department, jumping by 0.4 percent in October.