US Consumer Prices Pick Up in Bumpy Path Down for Inflation

  • Core and overall CPI accelerated in November from prior month
  • Services kept prices high while goods deflation continued
What the CPI Report Could Mean for Fed Policy
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US consumer prices picked up in November on increases in housing and other service-sector costs, keeping inflation stubborn enough to thwart any Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts soon.

The consumer price index ticked up after being little changed in October, and when stripping out food and energy costs, the so-called core CPI accelerated on a monthly basis as well, according to government figures. Economists favor the core metric as a better gauge of the trend in inflation than the overall CPI.