United Kingdom inflation remained negative at -0.1% in October

However, the weakness in inflation is likely to encourage the central bank to take its time before starting to raise interest rates from their record low. But that was more than offset by a 0.4% fall in food prices over the month, as supermarket price rivalry continued unabated, and a decline in the price of wine, spirits and tobacco.

Energy prices fell 11.4 percent over the past two months, and 15.1 percent over the year. In monthly terms, consumer prices climbed 0.1%, also matching expectations.

The cost of transport, which has proved a drag on inflation throughout 2015 due to a global decline in energy prices, also increased a nominal 0.02 per cent in October.

But energy prices, which declined in August and September, were up 0.3% last month, the Labor Department said. In the 12 months to the end of October, the CPI advanced 0.2 per cent. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the CPI rising 0.2 per cent last month and edging up 0.1 per cent from a year ago.

Deputy Governor Nemat Shafik said: "A gently-rising path for interest rates would result in the economy moving towards full capacity and inflation coming back to target within a couple of years".

Don't let the low level of headline inflation lull you into thinking that the Fed runs a great risk of triggering deflation or harming the economy if it raises the short-term rates to 0.25%. For the past decade the annualized inflation rate has been 1.9%. Core inflation remained at 1.9% for the second straight month, though it edged up fractionally for a fifth straight month. The price index for medical care services rose 0.8% in October, pushing the year-over-year rise to 3%.

I personally have little doubt (of course, I could be wrong) we'll see the 2 percent CPI much earlier than many expect. That would be the lowest annual CPI reading since 1989, when the benchmark was introduced, and the lowest overall since 1933 - the year Adolf Hitler came to power - according to the ONS's historic inflation estimates. Hospital services rose 2% from September, and are up 5.3% since October 2014. "The strong pound and weak external costs are likely to continue to bear down on prices of items with a high import content", Citi economist Michael Saunders said.

That said, it was certainly interesting to see how quickly the White House reacted to a Republican-backed bill to make the Federal Reserve set interest rate policy using a mathematical rule issuing the following statement: "If the president were presented with (the legislation), his senior advisers would recommend that he veto the bill".