U.S. consumer prices rose in December, bolstering expectations that long-weak inflation is set to gain strength in the new year….Prices rose 0.3% in December when excluding the often-volatile categories of food and energy, the largest increase for so-called core prices since January 2017. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had predicted core prices would rise a more modest 0.2% versus November.
Needless to say—except that I guess I need to say it—what really matters is the inflation rate compared to the previous year, not the previous month. Here it is for core CPI:
Yes, that tiny blip at the end is the thing that’s “bolstering expectations” that inflation is going up. FFS. Can we please stop this nonsense?
