December CPI: Inflation rises 6.5% over last year
Inflation rose at a slower rate again in the final month of 2022, a welcome downtrend in consumer prices after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates to the highest level in 15 years.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for December showed a 6.5% rise in prices over last year and a 0.1% decrease over the prior month, government data showed Thursday, on par with consensus estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
On a “core” basis, which strips out the volatile food and energy components of the report, prices climbed 5.7% year-over-year and 0.3% over the prior month. The core CPI readings also came in as expected, based on Bloomberg’s forecasts.
Policymakers monitor “core” inflation more closely due to its nuanced look at key inputs like housing, while the headline CPI figure has moved largely in tandem with volatile energy prices last year.
Even as price pressures, eased from the 9.1% peak of the current inflation cycle, last month’s reading marked the second-hottest December CPI print since 1981, topped only by 7.1% in December 2021.
(This post is breaking. Please check back for updates.)
Meat is seen in a supermarket as rising inflation affects consumer prices in Los Angeles, California, U.S., June 13, 2022. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson
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Alexandra Semenova is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @alexandraandnyc
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