Inflation rises 2.4% in September, above expectations

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Don Luskin, the chief investment officer of TrendMacro, reacts to the CBS News Vice Presidential Debate on 'The Evening Edit.' (CBS News)

Inflation continued to cool in September to the lowest level in three years, though the report came in slightly hotter than expected.

The Labor Department on Thursday said the consumer price index (CPI) — a broad measure of how much everyday goods like gasoline, groceries and rent cost – rose 0.2% in September from the prior month and was up 2.4% from a year ago. 

Economists predicted that inflation would slow to 2.3% on an annual basis with it rising 0.1% from last month, according to estimates by economists surveyed by LSEG.

So-called core prices, which exclude more volatile measurements of gasoline and food to better assess price growth trends, were up 0.3% on a monthly basis and 3.3% compared to a year ago — slightly higher than economists' expectations of 0.2% and 3.2%, respectively.

HOUSING MARKETS THAT COULD SEE THE BIGGEST IMPACT FROM FALLING MORTGAGE RATES

Consumer price increases were slightly higher than expected in September, coming in at 2.4% even as inflation continued to trend toward the Fed's 2% target. (Sha Hanting/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Overall, the report showed signs that inflationary pressures in the U.S. economy are continuing to ease, though prices remain above the Federal Reserve's 2% target.

High inflation has created severe financial pressures for most U.S. households, which are forced to pay more for everyday necessities like food and rent. Price hikes are particularly devastating for lower-income Americans, because they tend to spend more of their already-stretched paycheck on necessities and therefore have less