Inflation report November 2024: What consumer prices look like right now
Price growth sped up a bit in November, a sign that efforts to cool inflation may be stalling.
Price growth sped up a bit in November, a sign that efforts to cool inflation may be stalling.
Over the past 12 months, the consumer price index climbed 2.7%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday. That was in line with expectations but higher than the 2.6% annual rate in October. On a monthly basis, the index rose 0.3%, faster than the 0.2% rate in the previous month.
Excluding more volatile items like food and gas, the "core" measure of inflation climbed 3.3% on a 12-month basis, the same as in October. On a monthly basis, the core index rose 0.3%, matching its pace for the past three months. The monthly pace of price increases picked up for new cars and apparel, while shelter costs and the category that includes auto insurance showed declines.
Holiday shoppers last week on Fifth Avenue in New York.Jeenah Moon / Bloomberg via Getty ImagesThe stalled progress adds pressure on the Federal Reserve, which had hoped to continue lowering interest rates heading into next year in tandem with slower price growth. Now, analysts expect the Fed to pause its rate cutting in January.
"Price pressures are hardly settling at a level that the Fed can be completely at ease with," Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management, said in a note to clients following Wednesday's release.
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