Gas and semiconductor price rises push US consumer inflation higher, report says

The U.S. consumer price index rose 0.6% from August to September, a gain ABC News said was driven in part by higher gasoline costs and pricier semiconductors. ABC News reported the monthly increase was the largest in five months and that the CPI was 3.7% higher in September than a year earlier, up from 3.4% in August.

Excluding food and energy, core prices climbed 2.6% year‑over‑year, a step up from 2.4% the prior month. ABC News linked the jump in pump prices to lingering effects of the Iran war, which The Associated Press described as beginning in late February 2026.

The ABC News article said gas prices rose more than 9% from August to September and cited AAA figures showing a nationwide average at the pump of $4.33 a gallon in the two weeks before the story ran.

The report also noted a Goldman Sachs estimate, cited by ABC News, that the AI buildout contributed roughly a half‑percentage point to annual inflation as measured by the Fed's preferred gauge. The piece framed the inflation increase as a policy problem for the Federal Reserve, saying it complicates the Fed's price‑stability mandate.

ABC News also described political implications, saying elevated inflation presents a challenge for Republicans in Congress ahead of the midterm elections. ABC News reported that the September CPI gain was the largest monthly rise in five months and emphasized that core inflation — which strips out food and energy — also accelerated.

The report placed those figures alongside commentary about the Fed's policy path, saying the central bank has raised rates and faces decisions at upcoming meetings. The article included the AAA pump price snapshot and the Goldman Sachs estimate to explain contributors to the monthly number, and it cited The Associated Press for the characterization of when the Iran war began.

Beyond the published figures and the cited estimates, ABC News did not offer an independent breakdown of semiconductor price moves or a detailed accounting of which semiconductor products or industries drove the CPI effect.

Other headline outlets carried similar summaries of the same headline point that more expensive gas and semiconductors likely pushed up U.S. inflation last month, but ABC News provided the specific monthly and annual CPI figures, the core inflation change, the reported gas‑price jump, the AAA average pump price and the Goldman Sachs estimate referenced above.