The inflation data is released a day before the Federal Reserve concludes its December monetary meeting, following which it is expected to approve a new interest rate hike.
The year-on-year rate of inflation in USA it continues to drop and in November it stood at 7.1%, six tenths below that of October according to data published this Tuesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
In monthly terms, consumer prices only rose one tenth in November, according to this statistic, which is published one day before the Federal Reserve decide, predictably, a new rise in interest rates.
As BLS recalls, the inflation rate of 7.1% is the lowest since December 2021.
The Core inflation, which excludes energy and food prices, stood at 6% at its year-on-year rate.
Housing spending, which increased 0.6%, was what pushed the very slight monthly rise, compared to other components that weigh heavily on inflation, such as energy, whose prices fell 1.6% in one month. Food prices rose half a point in a month.
In year-on-year terms, the rise in energy prices has slowed, which now stands at 13.1%.
Gasoline is now 10.1% more expensive than in November 2021, electricity has risen 13.7% in one year and gas 15.5%.
interest rates
The inflation data is released a day before the Federal Reserve concludes its December monetary meeting, following which it is expected to approve a new interest rate hike.
It is expected that this rise, however, don’t be so high like the previous ones.
On November 30, the president of the US Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, ventured that the central bank’s rate hikes will slow down “as soon as December”, thus hinting that the next increase will be 0.5 points instead of 0.75 such as those that have been approved in recent months.
Powell said however that inflation remains high and therefore the official interest rate should remain high for longer than expected.
The official interest rate is currently between 3.75% and 4%.
When last November the Fed announced its fourth consecutive increase of 0.75 points, Powell considered that there is still room to return inflation to its 2% target without causing a recession.
In view of the latest unemployment data, the restrictive monetary policy of the Fed it is not yet strongly affecting the labor market.
And it is that unemployment in the United States did not register changes in November and the rate remained at 3.7%, 6 million people.
In that month, 263,000 new jobs were created, 2,000 more than during October.
