Consumer price increases accelerated last month, the latest sign that inflation’s steady decline over the past two years has stalled.

According to the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, consumer prices rose 2.3 percent in October from a year earlier, the Commerce Department said Wednesday.

Fed officials had been hoping this fall for a clean downtrend in inflation, allowing them to focus more fully on preventing an economic downturn. The data hasn't cooperated. Over the 12 months through October,

U.S. inflation gauge ticks higher with price pressures remaining stubborn.

U.S. consumer spending increased solidly in October, suggesting that the economy maintained its strong pace of growth early in the fourth quarter, but progress lowering inflation appears to have stalled in the past months.