US September import prices up 8.1% year-on-year, below 8.2% forecast

The undershoot matters less than the direction: import inflation accelerated again from the prior reading, so the miss against consensus does not signal cooling. This keeps imported cost pressure in the inflation picture and is relevant to anyone tracking how external prices feed domestic readings. Whether the pace keeps building from here, or the consensus miss marks the start of a turn, is the open question.