US inflation has not yet subsided

President Joe Biden has bet that the high US inflation rate will decline and help the case for the spending plans he's staked his presidency on, but data released Friday instead showed prices remaining stubbornly high in the world's largest economy.

There were also signs of an acceleration in wages that could further fuel inflation, as well as a spike in consumer expectations of price increases to come.

The Commerce Department reported inflation climbed 4.4 per cent last month compared to September 2020, its biggest jump since January 1991 and the latest complications for the president's proposal to spend $1.75 trillion on an array of social services.

That bill, dubbed Build Back Better, has faced a tortuous path through Congress, where some moderate Democrats have worried it could make the price situation worse.

 "I don't think that these investments will drive up inflation," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in an interview with CNBC from Rome, where G20 leaders including Biden are gathering.