Inflation hit a fresh three-year low in September as another drop in gasoline prices offset a rise in used car and auto insurance costs. But price gains slowed less than expected and a gauge of underlying price increases picked up.

Overall consumer prices increased 2.4% from a year ago, down from 2.5% in August, according to the Labor Department’s consumer price index, a wide-ranging gauge of goods and services costs. That’s the smallest increase since February 2021 and the sixth straight pullback, leaving inflation modestly above the Fed’s 2% goal. Economists polled by Bloomberg, though, expected a drop to 2.3%.

The latest pullback likely should still keep the Federal Reserve on track to lower interest rates by a more measured quarter percentage point next month after its initial half-point reduction in September.