U.S. Consumer Prices Increase 0.5% In January, In Line With Estimates

The Labor Department released a report on Tuesday showing U.S. consumer prices increased in line with economist estimates in the month of January.

The report said the consumer price index climbed by 0.5 percent in January following a revised 0.1 percent uptick in December.

Economists had expected consumer prices to rise by 0.5 percent compared to the 0.1 percent dip originally reported for the previous month.

The monthly increase in consumer prices was largely due to a 0.7 percent advance in prices for shelter, with higher prices for food, gasoline and natural gas also contributing.

The Labor Department said prices for food rose by 0.5 percent during the month, while prices for energy jumped by 2.0 percent.

Excluding food and energy prices, core consumer prices rose by 0.4 percent in January, matching a revised increase in December as well as economist estimates.

The increase in core prices reflected the advance in prices for shelter as well as higher prices for motor vehicle insurance, recreation, apparel, and household furnishings and operations.

The Labor Department also said the annual rate of growth in consumer prices slowed to 6.4 percent in January from 6.5 percent in December.

While the year-over-year price growth reflected the smallest increase since October 2021, economists had expected the pace of annual growth to slow to 6.2 percent.

The annual rate of core consumer price growth slowed to 5.6 percent in January from 5.7 percent in December. The pace of growth was expected to slow to 5.5 percent.

“All told, risks are weighted toward inflation being higher in the first half of this year than we anticipated in the February baseline,” said Ryan Sweet, Chief U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics.

He added, “Still, inflation should moderate more noticeably in the second half of this year as goods disinflation intensifies and services inflation peaks.”

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