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Prices rose at the fastest pace in four months in November, the second consecutive month of accelerating inflation.
The consumer price index rose 2.7 percent from a year earlier, the Department of Labor said Wednesday. Core inflation, a metric that excludes volatile food and energy prices, climbed 3.3 percent over the previous 12 months.
The results matched the forecasts of economists surveyed by Econoday.
Compared with a month ago, the broad index of consumer prices rose 0.3 percent, the fastest pace of inflation since March. If that pace of inflation were to continue for a year, prices would rise 3.8 percent. Core prices also rose 0.3 percent for the month—which was also the fastest pace since March.
Consumer optimism has risen after the U.S. presidential election, as indicated by data from the University of Michigan and the Conference Board. Small business optimism is at the best level in years, with the outlook metric of the National Federation of Independent Business’s measure of business confidence jumping in November for the biggest monthly gain ever recorded.
Inflation has worsened since the Federal Reserve began cutting rates in September, a controversial decision that critics said was premature and risked needlessly fueling price pressures. The labor market has proven to be more resilient that Fed officials expected, with the economy adding more jobs than expected in November. The Atlanta Fed’s realtime measure of economic data suggests the economy could be growing at a 3.3 percent pace.
Despite the uptick in inflation, the Fed is still considered likely to cut rates when it meets again next week.
