The consumer price index (CPI) increased by 0.5 percent in January to hit an annual increase of 3.0 percent after advancing by 2.9 percent in December.
Economists were expecting the CPI to increase by between 2.8 percent and 2.9 percent, so Wednesday’s number from the Labor Department comes in slightly above expectations.
The January number is the fourth-straight month that inflation has ticked up, rising from a 2.4 percent increase in September as the Federal Reserve has paused interest rate cuts amid strong job numbers and increasing price levels.
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