Investing.com - Consumer price inflation (CPI) in the U.S. remained unchanged on a month-over-month basis in July, while the small increase in prices excluding food and energy costs came in below forecasts, removing pressure from the Federal Reserve to tighten monetary policy, official data showed on Tuesday.
In a report, the U.S. Commerce Department said that consumer prices were unchanged in July from a month earlier, compared to expectations for a 0.1% gain and an increase of 0.2% in June.
Year-over-year, consumer prices increased 0.8%, below expectations for a gain of 0.9% and after having risen 1.0% in June.
Consumer prices, excluding food and energy costs, increased by a seasonally adjusted 0.1%, below forecasts that had expected it to remain in line with the 0.2% advance seen in July.
Core CPI increased at annualized rate of 2.2% last month, which was also below forecasts for another 2.3% rise.
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.
After the report, which was released simultaneously with housing starts and building permits, EUR/USD was trading at 1.1304 from around 1.1301 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.2983 from 1.2986 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 99.81 from 99.77 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 94.61, compared to 94.53 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower open. The Dow futures fell 33 points, or 0.17%, the S&P 500 futures lost 4 points, or 0.18%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures traded down 8 points, or 0.16%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,357.45 a troy ounce, compared to $1,359.75 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $45.80 a barrel from $46.01 earlier.