Economics
U.S. Core Inflation Unexpectedly Cools as Apparel Costs Drop
- Price gains trail forecasts with and without food and energy
- Persistent slowdown in inflation could affect Fed rate path
This article is for subscribers only.
A gauge of underlying U.S. inflation unexpectedly cooled in August as apparel prices fell by the most in about seven decades and medical-care costs declined, suggesting little urgency for the Federal Reserve to speed up the pace of interest-rate hikes.
Excluding food and energy costs, the core consumer price index rose 2.2 percent in August from a year earlier, compared with the 2.4 percent median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News, a Labor Department report showed Thursday. The broader CPI slowed to a 2.7 percent annual gain from 2.9 percent.