Investing.com – Annualized consumer price inflation (CPI) continued to push higher in December as expected, official data showed on Wednesday.
In a report, the U.S. Commerce Department said that consumer prices gained 0.3% in December from a month earlier, in line with expectations and compared to a 0.2% advance in the prior month.
Year-over-year, consumer prices increased 2.1% last month, in line with forecasts and after having risen 1.7% in November.
Consumer prices, excluding food and energy costs, increased by a seasonally adjusted 0.2% last month, in line with estimates and November’s increase.
Core CPI increased at an annualized rate of 2.2% in December, in line with the consensus forecast. Annual core inflation rose 2.1% in November.
Core prices are viewed by the Federal Reserve (Fed) 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.
Market participants may have a chance to hear Fed chair Janet Yellen’s comments on the inflation data when she responds to questions after giving a speech on monetary policy to the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco at 3:00PM ET (20:00GMT).
After the report, the dollar pushed higher. EUR/USD was trading at 1.0664 from around 1.0666 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.2280 from 1.2288 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 113.50 from 113.45 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 100.82, compared to 100.81 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a slightly higher open. The Dow futures gained 33 points or 0.16%, the S&P 500 futures advanced 4 points, or 0.17%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures rose 9 points, or 0.19%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,212.50 a troy ounce, compared to $1,212.65 ahead of the data, while crude oil was at $51.71 compared to $51.68 earlier.