Inflation eases more than expected in November to 7.1%, but consumer prices remain elevated

Inflation still about 3 times higher than pre-pandemic average

Megan Henney / FOXBusiness

 

Inflation moderated more than expected in November, an early sign that painfully high consumer prices are beginning to loosen their stranglehold on the U.S. economy. 

The Labor Department said Tuesday that the consumer price index, a broad measure of the price for everyday goods including gasoline, groceries and rents, rose 0.1% in November from the previous month. Prices climbed 7.1% on an annual basis. 

Those figures were both lower than the 7.3% headline figure and 0.3% monthly increase forecast by Refinitiv economists, a potentially reassuring sign for the Federal Reserve as it tries to tame runaway inflation with a series of aggressive interest rate hikes. It marked the slowest annual inflation rate since December 2021.

In another sign that suggests underlying inflationary pressures in the economy are starting to slow, core prices – which strip out...Read more, see charts, graph, and video here.