A report released by the U.S. Department of Commerce on Thursday showed that the pace of price increases accelerated in September, keeping inflation levels significantly above the Federal Reserve's target; at the same time, the U.S. economy grew faster than expected in the third quarter.

The Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index ( PCE ) rose by 0.5% on a seasonally adjusted basis for the month, bringing the annual inflation rate to 3.6%. The market consensus surveyed by Dow Jones expected a monthly increase of 0.5%, while the annual rate was 0.1 percentage points lower than anticipated.

Excluding food and energy, the core PCE recorded a month-on-month increase of 0.3% and a year-on-year increase of 3.1%, in line with market expectations. Although the Federal Reserve closely monitors these two indicators, officials generally believe that core data better reflect the long-term inflation trend.

Although inflation is still above the Federal Reserve's target of 2%, the U.S. Department of Commerce also reported that gross domestic product ( GDP ) in the third quarter performed strongly.

The annualized growth rate adjusted for seasonality is 3.4% for GDP, which is higher than the expected 3.1% and also significantly higher than the 2.2% in the second quarter.

This is breaking news, and updates will continue to follow.