Chair Jerome Powell says the Federal Reserve will likely cut its key interest rate slowly and deliberately in the coming months, in part because inflation has shown signs of persistence and the Fed’s officials want to see where it heads next.

The Labor Department on Wednesday reported that consumer prices in October rose 2.6% from a year earlier. That marks a pickup in the pace of inflation from September, when prices were up 2.4% on the year.

Market interest rates have risen over the past few months and the 10-year Treasury, often a benchmark for borrowing costs, is now yielding 4.45% – up from 3.6% in mid-September. Mortgage rates have risen about a percentage point to an average of 7% now from early September.

U.S. wholesale prices rose a bit faster in October and suggested the battle by the Federal Reserve to reduce inflation to low prepandemic levels may last awhile.

Food price inflation, a major contributor to the wholesale price index, rose by 11.59% annually in October, compared to a 9.47% gain in September.

October's consumer price index was expected to show inflation heating up at a 2.6% rate.