INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
A key gauge of US consumer prices posted the smallest monthly advance in more than a year, indicating the worst of inflation has likely
passed and validating an anticipated slowing in the pace of Federal Reserve interest-rate hikes.
Excluding food and energy, the consumer
price index rose 0.2 per cent in November and was up 6 per cent from a year earlier, according to a Labor Department report Tuesday
CPI increased 0.1 per cent from the prior month and was up 7.1 per cent from a year earlier, as lower energy prices helped offset rising
food costs.
US stock futures surged and Treasury yields plummeted following the report
The median estimates in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for 0.3 per cent monthly increases in both the core and overall
on Wednesday and is expected to announce a half-point interest rate increase
While that would be a smaller hike than implemented in the last four meetings, it would put rates at the highest level since
equivalent rent rose 0.7 per cent, the cost of lodging away from home sank 0.7 per cent after surging the prior month
changes and when those are reflected in Labor Department data.
Core goods prices fell for a second month in November, dropping 0.5 per cent
Excluding energy, services prices climbed 0.4 per cent, the smallest gain since July
