Anjali Sharma
GG News Bureau
WASHINGTON DC, 13th Jan. According to the reports on Friday the US inflation rose more than expected in December thanks to a jump in energy and housing costs, underscored the challenge of taming price pressures within the economy.
Fox Business reported that the Labor Department said that the consumer price index, a broad measure of the price of everyday goods including gasoline, groceries and rent, rose 0.3 per cent in December from the previous month, more than expected.
It said that prices climbed 3.4 per cent from the same time last year, coming in above both the expectation from Refinitiv economists and the 3.1 per cent gain recorded in November.
The report indicated that inflation is continuing to retreat, but slowly.
It noted core prices, which exclude the more volatile measurements of food and energy, climbed 0.3 per cent, or 3.9 per cent annually.
Both figures are slightly higher than estimates; however, it marked the first time since May 2021 that core inflation fell below 4 per cent.
The report painted a picture of extremely stubborn inflation that has been slow to retreat, even as the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates to the highest level in two decades.
It indicated that while inflation has fallen considerably from a peak of 9.1 per cent, it remains well above the Federal Reserve’s 2 per cent target, Fox Business reported.
Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management said “Today’s inflation report reinforces the notion that the market had gotten a little overexcited around the timing of rate cuts,”.
“These are not bad numbers, but they do show that disinflation progress is still slow and unlikely to be a straight line down to 2 per cent.”
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