US September Core CPI Hits 2.6% Year-on-Year, Highest Since June

The upside surprise in core inflation matters because it is the stickier component that shapes rate expectations, and a beat on both the annual and monthly readings complicates the disinflation narrative. This feeds directly into how risk assets, including crypto, price the path of policy, since a hotter core print tends to firm rate expectations and pressure liquidity-sensitive trades. Whether this is a one-month bump tied to September's seasonal quirks or the start of a firmer trend is the open question, and the next core reading will be the tell.