U.S. Core Consumer Price Growth Slows More Than Expected In December
(RTTNews) - Annual U.S. consumer price growth came in unchanged in the month of December, according to a report released by the Commerce Department on Friday, although the report also showed a bigger than expected slowdown in the annual rate of core consumer price growth.
The Commerce Department said consumer prices in December were up by 2.6 percent compared to the same month a year ago, unchanged from November and in line with economist estimates.
Meanwhile, the report said the annual rate of growth by core consumer prices, which exclude food and energy prices, slowed to 2.9 percent in December from 3.2 percent in November. Economists had expected core price growth to decelerate to 3.0 percent.
The annual inflation readings, which are said to be preferred by the Federal Reserve, were included in the Commerce Department's monthly report on personal income and spending.
The report said personal spending rose by 0.3 percent in December after climbing by 0.4 percent in November. The increase in income came in line with economist estimates.
The Commerce Department also said personal spending advanced by 0.7 percent in December following an upwardly revised 0.4 percent increase in November.
Economists had expected spending to rise by 0.4 percent compared to the 0.2 percent uptick originally reported for the previous month.
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