Economics
U.S. Core Inflation Accelerates
- Investor expectations increase for Fed rate hike in March
- Retail sales data indicate robust holiday-shopping season
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The underlying pace of U.S. inflation unexpectedly accelerated in December amid increased housing costs, reinforcing the outlook for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates several times in 2018.
Excluding food and energy, the so-called core consumer price index increased 1.8 percent from a year earlier after a 1.7 percent advance, including a 0.3 percent monthly gain that topped analyst projections and was the most in almost a year. Including all items, the broader CPI showed a smaller gain in December in line with estimates, as energy prices declined, a Labor Department report showed Friday.