WASHINGTON: US consumer inflation ticked up for a second consecutive month in November, according to government data published Wednesday, complicating the Federal Reserve’s deliberations over interest rates.
The consumer price index (CPI) rose to 2.7 percent last month from a year ago, up slightly from 2.6 percent in October, the Labor Department said in a statement.
This was in line with the median forecast of economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
The rise adds to the challenges the Fed faces returning inflation to its long-term target of two percent, potentially slowing the pace of rate cuts over the coming months.
US inflation still on ‘bumpy’ path to target: Fed official
The US central bank recently began dialing back interest rates from a two-decade high, and its benchmark lending rate currently sits at between 4.50 and 4.75 percent, down three quarters of a percentage-point from September.
The financial markets widely expect the Fed to make another quarter point cut next week, according to CME Group data.
The US consumer inflation rate slowed for much of this year, falling to 2.4 percent year-on-year in September, before reversing course in recent months.
But despite the uptick, most analysts, and Fed officials, still think the overall trajectory for inflation is downward over time.
A measure of inflation that strips out volatile food and energy costs known as core inflation came in at 3.3 percent last month, according to the Labor Department. This was in line with expectations.
Both monthly headline and core inflation rose 0.3 percent in November, also in line with expectations.
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