US inflation may have picked up in October after months of easing

Annual inflation may have risen in October for the first time in seven months, a sign that price increases might be leveling off after steadily cooling for more than two years. Consumer prices are thought to have increased 2.6% from 12 months earlier, up from 2.4% in September. Measured month to month, prices are believed to have ticked up 0.2% from September to October, the same as in the previous month. Excluding volatile food and energy costs, so-called core prices are forecast to have risen 0.3% from September to October — a pace that, if sustained, would exceed the Federal Reserve’s 2% inflation target.