Verified reporting
Verified reporting: what the October numbers say
The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers rose 0.4 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis in October, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported at 8:30 a.m. ET on Tuesday, November 10, 2026. That followed a 0.6 percent increase in September. The index excluding food and energy, often called core inflation, rose 0.3 percent, the same pace BLS recorded in August and September.
Families felt it at the checkout line. BLS said the food index rose 0.5 percent in October. Food at home rose 0.4 percent and food away from home rose 0.5 percent. Within groceries, the beef index rose 0.9 percent, snacks rose 1.0 percent, and both fruits and vegetables and dairy rose 0.6 percent.
Energy rose 0.7 percent after a 5.2 percent surge in September. The electricity index rose 0.9 percent in a single month, while natural gas fell 0.8 percent. The seasonally adjusted gasoline index rose 1.0 percent, though BLS noted that before seasonal adjustment gasoline prices fell 0.7 percent. NPR, citing AAA, reported that the national average for regular gasoline dipped below $4 a gallon on Tuesday for the first time in three months.
Shelter rose 0.3 percent and, according to BLS, accounted for more than thirty percent of the monthly increase. Motor vehicle insurance rose 0.7 percent and hospital services rose 0.8 percent. Used cars and trucks were one of the few major categories to fall, down 1.2 percent.
A separate BLS release the same morning found that real average hourly earnings for all employees were unchanged from September to October. Average hourly earnings rose 0.4 percent, and the 0.4 percent rise in prices consumed all of it.
Legal / factual context
Context: why there is no annual inflation rate this month
BLS did not publish a 12-month inflation rate for most series. The agency said it did not collect survey data for October 2025 because of the lapse in appropriations last fall, so it cannot calculate year-over-year changes where October 2025 indexes are missing. Where data exist, the numbers are stark: the unadjusted gasoline index was up 37.4 percent from a year earlier.
CNBC reported that economists surveyed by Dow Jones had expected a 0.3 percent headline increase and a 0.2 percent core increase, so both came in hotter than forecast. The Federal Reserve held its benchmark rate at 3.75 to 4 percent in October, and CNBC reported that traders now fully price in a quarter-point increase at the Fed's December 8 and 9 meeting. The next CPI report is scheduled for December 10.
Sources and reading
- Consumer Price Index, October 2026 (BLS news release USDL-26-1685, Nov. 10, 2026)
Primary source for all CPI monthly changes, the shelter share, seasonal adjustment notes and the missing 12-month changes. - Consumer Price Index, October 2026, full release with tables (BLS PDF)
Table data, including the unadjusted 37.4 percent 12-month gasoline change and the Dec. 10 next-release date. - Real Earnings, October 2026 (BLS news release USDL-26-1686, Nov. 10, 2026)
Real average hourly earnings unchanged; average hourly earnings and CPI-U each up 0.4 percent. - Approximating missing CPI data (BLS fact sheet)
BLS explanation of how October 2025 data gaps are handled. - Consumer prices rose 0.4% in October, more than expected (CNBC, Nov. 10, 2026)
Dow Jones forecasts, the Fed's October rate decision and market pricing for December. - Gas prices dip below $4 but inflation stays stubbornly high (NPR, Nov. 10, 2026)
AAA national average gasoline price.
Reporting above is based on the cited records. The section labeled “Our view” is editorial opinion. This article is not legal advice. Our Gadsden Flag is an independent brand, not a government or military organization.
Conservative commentary · Our view
Our view: inflation is a tax nobody voted for
Inflation is the cruelest tax in America because no member of Congress ever has to vote for it by name. It shows up as a heavier grocery bag that costs more, a power bill that climbs while the thermostat stays put, and a raise that disappears before it reaches the bank. October proved the point. Workers earned 0.4 percent more an hour, and prices took every cent of it.
Conservatives have said it for decades and the data keep confirming it: when Washington spends money it does not have, families pay the difference at the register. Economists and the Fed can debate how much of this year's surge traces to war, tariffs, energy markets or the artificial intelligence power build-out. What is not debatable is that Congress controls the federal checkbook, and it has not shown restraint.
That is why the lame-duck session matters. Before a new Congress is seated in January, the outgoing majority should refuse any year-end spending bill that grows the government without paying for itself. No grab-bag omnibus. No midnight add-ons. Every dollar should be debated in the open.
The 0.9 percent jump in electricity should also end the pretense that energy policy is a side issue. Americans need more power plants, more pipelines and faster permits, not more mandates that make reliable energy scarce and expensive. Cheap, abundant energy is the closest thing to a pay raise Washington can give without printing a dime.
Finally, the Federal Reserve should do its job without political pressure from either party. Sound money is not a partisan cause. It is how a free people keeps the value of its own work. Our Gadsden Flag will keep watching the December report, and we will keep asking the same question every family asks at the kitchen table: who is going to pay for this?