Investing.com - Consumer price inflation in the U.S. rose in line with expectations in February, while prices excluding food and energy costs inched up modestly, official data showed on Tuesday.
In a report, the U.S. Department of Labor said that consumer prices increased by a seasonally adjusted 0.2% last month, meeting forecasts and following a drop of 0.7% in January.
Year-over-year, consumer prices were flat in February, compared to expectations for decline of 0.1% and after falling 0.1% in January.
Consumer prices, excluding food and energy costs, increased by a seasonally adjusted 0.2% in February, above expectations for a 0.1% increase. Core consumer prices inched up 0.2% in January.
Core CPI increased at annualized rate of 1.7% in February, up from 1.6% in January.
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 1.0948 from around 1.0994 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.4902 from 1.4948 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 119.61 from 119.32 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 97.19, compared to 96.87 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a modestly higher open. The Dow futures pointed to a gain of 0.2%, the S&P 500 futures rose 0.2%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures tacked on 0.25%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,189.10 a troy ounce, compared to $1,192.60 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $47.74 a barrel from around $47.95 earlier.