Economics
Soft U.S. Core Inflation May Keep Fed From Speeding Up Hikes
- Shelter prices rose in November by least in four months
- Energy prices drive pickup in headline consumer price index
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An unexpected cooling in a key measure of U.S. inflation means Federal Reserve policy makers may be hard-pressed to raise interest rates more aggressively in 2018.
The so-called core consumer price index, which excludes food and fuel, increased 0.1 percent in November from the prior month and 1.7 percent from a year earlier, less than the median projections of economists, a Labor Department report showed Wednesday. Including all items, CPI rose 0.4 percent from October, accelerating thanks to a jump in energy prices.