The Labor
Department reported on Wednesday that the U.S. consumer price index (CPI) surged by 0.4 per cent m-o-m in December 2024, following
an unrevised 0.3 per cent m-o-m rise in the previous month. This marked the indicator’s strongest monthly gain
since March 2024 (+0.4 per cent m-o-m).
Over the last
12 months, the CPI soared by 2.9 per cent y-o-y, hastening from an unrevised advance
of 2.7 per cent y-o-y reported for the period ending in November. This represented
the strongest
12-month increase since July (+2.9
per cent).
Economists had foreseen
the U.S. CPI to jump 0.3 per cent m-o-m and 2.9 per cent y-o-y.
According to
the report, a 2.6-per cent surge in the index for energy accounted for over 40 per cent of the monthly gain in the index for all items last month. In
addition, the food index increased by 0.3 per cent m-o-m.
The core CPI,
excluding volatile food and fuel costs, went up 0.2 per cent m-o-m in December, after an unrevised 0.3 per cent m-o-m gain in each of the previous four
months.
In the 12
months through December, the core CPI rose by 3.2 per cent, slightly easing from an unrevised 3.3 per cent advance
for the 12 months ending November. This marked the first deceleration in core
CPI in five months.
Economists
had anticipated the core CPI to climb by 0.2 per cent m-o-m and 3.3 per cent
y-o-y in the final month of 2024.