Investing.com - U.S. consumer prices rose broadly in line with market expectations in February, indicating that inflation continues to gather momentum, official data showed on Wednesday.
The Commerce Department said that consumer prices increased by a seasonally adjusted 0.1% last month, meeting forecasts and following a gain of 0.6% in January.
Year-over-year, consumer prices were 2.7% higher from the same month a year earlier, in line with expectations and after rising 2.5% in the preceding month.
Consumer prices, excluding food and energy costs, increased by a seasonally adjusted 0.2%, matching forecasts. Core consumer prices rose 0.3% in January.
Core CPI increased at annualized rate of 2.2% last month, also meeting expectations.
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.
USD/JPY was at 114.74 from around 114.60 ahead of the release of the data, EUR/USD was trading at 1.0623 from 1.0630 earlier, while GBP/USD was at 1.2200 from 1.2202.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 101.44, compared to 101.39 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a slightly higher open. The Dow futures pointed to a gain of 32 points at the open, the S&P 500 futures indicated a rise of 5 points, while the Nasdaq 100 futures added 9 points.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,198.85 a troy ounce, compared to $1,199.85 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $48.66 a barrel from $48.68 earlier.