The U.S. inflation rate in October flattened month/month and slowed from the lofty 2022 pace, impacted by lower natural gas prices and moderating energy costs overall. 

The U.S. Department of Labor said Tuesday its Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased 3.2% from a year earlier, though that marked a substantial easing from the peak of 2022, when the inflation rate reached a 40-year high of 9.1%. The rate stood at 6.5% at the end of 2022, following several Federal Reserve interest rate hikes that sent borrowing costs higher, curbed spending and helped to drive down overall prices.

The surge in inflation last year was caused in part by the soaring natural gas prices in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Western sanctions against the Kremlin to oppose the war – and...