Overview
- Consumer prices rose 0.3% on the month and 2.7% from a year earlier, while core CPI increased 0.2% monthly and 2.6% annually, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
- Shelter was the largest contributor to the monthly gain, rising 0.4%, and food prices climbed 0.7%, leaving grocery costs up about 3.1% over the year.
- Several goods categories fell in price, including used cars (down roughly 1.1%) and appliances (down about 4.3%), keeping core goods inflation subdued around 1.4% year over year.
- Economists caution that shutdown-disrupted data collection for October and November still complicates comparisons, with the BLS noting carry-forward methods were used for some prices.
- Following the report, markets broadly priced a hold at the Jan. 27–28 FOMC meeting as analysts cited moderating underlying inflation and muted tariff pass-through.