Here's the inflation breakdown for September 2026

JUST IN: US inflation rises to 3.7% in September, hotter than expected, driven by higher gasoline and energy costs from the Iran war, with core CPI jumping to 2.6% and economists warning the Fed may hike rates.

US inflation just climbed to 3.7 percent, and it's the war doing it.

September's consumer price index came in hotter than expected, up from 3.4 in August, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics points straight at gasoline and energy. You can see what drivers are facing at the pump right here. The Iran war has pushed crude higher since February, and everything refined from it, petrol, diesel, jet fuel, followed.

The number that actually worries economists is core inflation, which strips out food and energy. That jumped to 2.6 percent. Mark Zandi at Moody's says the war's fingerprints are all over this report, and that it gives the Fed more reason to keep raising rates. Wells Fargo now sees hikes running into spring 2027.

And the timing could not be worse for Washington. Midterms are less than a month away, consumer sentiment just hit its second lowest reading ever, and inflation has now been above the Fed's 2 percent target for more than five years straight.

This is Angel Manalo, reporting for HIT.