[Anchor]

As international oil prices have remained high for a prolonged period, U.S. consumer inflation for last month exceeded market expectations. Fearing that inflation could trigger another interest rate hike, Wall Street stock markets declined overnight.

Reporting from New York, this is correspondent Kim Hyunwoo.

[Reporter]

U.S. consumer prices for September rose 3.7% compared to the same month a year ago.

This exceeded the market forecast of 3.6%, marking the highest inflation rate in four months.

Compared to the previous month, prices rose 0.6%, making the upward trend even steeper.

Energy prices surged as crude oil supplies faced disruptions in the wake of the Middle East conflict, pulling inflation upward.

In fact, gasoline prices in September rose 9.1% from the previous month, and a staggering 34.2% compared to a year ago.

Core consumer prices, excluding volatile food and energy, rose 2.6% from the same month last year.

With inflation coming in higher than expected, the Federal Reserve's deliberations are expected to deepen ahead of its benchmark interest rate decision later this month.

In the fed funds futures market, the probability of the Fed raising rates this month was projected at around 17% just a week ago, but following the release of the inflation data, that probability surpassed 30%.

When raising the benchmark interest rate by 0.25 percentage points last month, the Fed hinted that it could implement one more hike within the year.

[Voice | Christopher Waller, Member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors (on October 8): "With inflation running above our target for nearly five and a half years, the recent acceleration in the pace of price increases is concerning."]

Amid concerns over interest rate hikes, all three major New York stock indices fell overnight.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq, which bears a heavy burden from financing costs, suffered the sharpest drop. In particular, weakness in semiconductor stocks persisted, sending the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, which tracks major U.S. semiconductor companies, down for the sixth consecutive trading session.

(Video by Lee Hee-hoon | Video Editing by Oh Young-taek)