Eco Week Ahead
US Consumer Prices May Show Fed Has More Work to Do
- Data will likely underscore challenge in taming inflation
- Slowing UK price gains, EU forecasts also due this week
Shoppers in San Francisco, California.
Photographer: David Paul Morris/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Prices of US goods and services probably climbed last month at a pace that remains discomforting for consumers as well as for Federal Reserve policy makers seeking greater progress in their battle to beat back inflation.
The January consumer price index on Tuesday is expected to increase 0.5% from a month earlier, spurred in part by higher gasoline costs. That would mark the biggest gain in three months. Excluding fuels and foods, so-called core prices — which better reflect underlying inflation — are seen rising 0.4% for a second month.