Economists were expecting monthly inflation of 0.3% in September in the US, for both normal and core CPI. But the normal CPI was slightly above at 0.4%, while core was in line with expectations. Annual inflation remains at 3.7%, while 3.6% was expected. The rise is mainly due to higher energy prices. This supports the “higher rates for longer” narrative. Energy and health care stocks outperformed. The FTSE 100 rose 0.3%.

Today, investors will be focusing on the quarterly results from banking giants JPMorgan Chase, Citi and Wells Fargo, to get more clues about the health of the US economy.

The FTSE 100 was flat at 9am after China posted weak trade data. Imports (-6.2%) and exports (-6.2%) continued to contract, but a little less than expected.

In other news, the CMA announced it gave Microsoft the green light to acquire Activision Blizzard. This comes after it refused the deal back in April, and Microsoft had to do some work to reassure UK regulators that this would not hamper competition in cloud gaming. Microsoft had to agree that Activision Blizzard's cloud gaming rights - including those for the global hits "Call of Duty" and "Candy Crush" – would be managed by France's Ubisoft.

Things to read today:

A scary, but noisy, inflation report (Financial Times)

Wider War in Middle East Could Tip the World Economy Into Recession (Bloomberg)

The Fed Is Putting Too Much Faith in Markets (WSJ)