US CPI report December 2024: Live data on inflation, consumer price index news
Thank you for joining us. Here are five key takeaways from the December US CPI report released Wednesday:
- The heading CPI rose 0.4% from November, in line with economists’ forecasts, with energy prices accounting for more than 40% of the increase. Energy rose 2.6% on the month, with gasoline, fuel oil and propane all seeing their biggest monthly gains of the year.
- Core CPIwhich excludes food and energy costs, rose 0.2%, less than the median forecast for a 0.3% increase. It marked the first monthly slowdown in core inflation since June. Both rents and owner-equivalent rents (homeowners’ estimated housing costs) rose from November, but the 0.3% increase for each was noticeably weaker than most months since inflation picked up in spring 2021.
- Flight pricescar prices, medical care and auto insurance prices helped drive the core CPI increase, with personal care, communications and alcoholic beverages among the few major categories that saw price declines.
- The year to year core Inflation fell to 3.2% in December from 3.3% the previous month, the first drop since July. The CPI for all goods rose 2.9% over 12 months, accelerating from 2.7% in November. Economists said the slowdown in core inflation is good news for the Federal Reserve, but warned that several months of positive data would be needed to put further interest rate cuts on the horizon.
- Both Government bonds and stock futures rose in response to the slowdown in monthly core inflation as the dollar tumbled. Ten-year Treasury yields fell around 13 basis points at 9:19 a.m. to 4.66%, while contracts on the S&P 500 rose 1.4%. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot index fell 0.5 per cent.