Investing.com - Consumer price inflation in the U.S. rose less than expected in July, while prices excluding food and energy costs inched up modestly, official data showed on Wednesday.
In a report, the U.S. Commerce Department said that consumer prices increased by a seasonally adjusted 0.1% last month, below forecasts for a gain of 0.2% and following a rise of 0.3% in June.
Year-over-year, consumer prices inched up 0.2% in July, in line with expectations and after rising 0.1% a month earlier.
Consumer prices, excluding food and energy costs, increased by a seasonally adjusted 0.1%, missing expectations for a 0.2% increase. Core consumer prices inched up 0.2% in June.
Core CPI increased at annualized rate of 1.8% last month, matching expectations and unchanged from 1.8% in June.
Core prices are viewed by the Federal Reserve as a better gauge of longer-term inflationary pressure because they exclude the volatile food and energy categories. The central bank usually tries to aim for 2% core inflation or less.
EUR/USD was trading at 1.1039 from around 1.1044 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.5670 from 1.5669 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 124.30 from 124.29 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 96.98, compared to 96.92 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower open. The Dow futures pointed to a loss of 0.45%, the S&P 500 futures shed 0.3%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures declined 0.25%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,120.50 a troy ounce, compared to $1,121.90 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $42.89 a barrel from $42.87 earlier.