Sunday, June 15, 2025
48.0°F

Consumer prices up 0.4% in December led by higher gas prices

Martin Crutsinger | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 4 years, 5 months AGO
by Martin Crutsinger
| January 13, 2021 6:09 AM

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumer prices rose 0.4% in December, led by a sharp rise in gasoline prices.

Last month's increase, the largest in four months, followed a 0.2% rise in November and no change at all in October, according to Labor Department numbers released Wednesday.

Inflation for all of 2020 rose a modest 1.4%, well below the Federal Reserve's 2% target. Analysts believe inflation will remain subdued with the U.S. economy still unable to break out of a pandemic-induced downturn.

For December, energy prices rose 4% with gasoline prices surging 8.4%. Even with that big jump, gasoline prices are 15.2% below where they were a year ago, when people were still commuting to work. Food costs rose 0.4% in December and are 3.9% higher than a year ago.

Core inflation, excluding volatile food and energy, rose a slight 0.1% last month, and just 1.6% over the past 12 months.

Inflation has been dormant over the past decade, a development that is allowing the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates at ultra-low levels during a surge in Covid-19 cases that has forced more business shutdowns at a time when millions are out of work.

Kathy Bostjancic, chief U.S. financial economist, said the benign inflation performance will likely mean that the Fed does not start raising interest rates until 2024.

“The Fed's policy objectives signal that monetary policy will remain very accommodative for a considerable time,” Bostjanci said.

MORE IMPORTED STORIES

Producer Price Index spikes in May
Coeur d'Alene Press | Updated 10 years ago
Consumer prices rise 0.2% in September, used vehicles spike
Columbia Basin Herald | Updated 4 years, 8 months ago
Consumer prices rise 0.2% in September, used vehicles spike
Columbia Basin Herald | Updated 4 years, 8 months ago

ARTICLES BY MARTIN CRUTSINGER

September 3, 2021 12:09 a.m.

COVID recession pushed Social Security insolvency up a year

WASHINGTON (AP) — The sharp shock of the coronavirus recession pushed Social Security a year closer to insolvency but left Medicare’s exhaustion date unchanged, the government reported Tuesday in a counterintuitive assessment that deepens the uncertainty around the nation's bedrock retirement programs.

September 2, 2021 12:09 a.m.

COVID recession pushed Social Security insolvency up a year

WASHINGTON (AP) — The sharp shock of the coronavirus recession pushed Social Security a year closer to insolvency but left Medicare’s exhaustion date unchanged, the government reported Tuesday in a counterintuitive assessment that deepens the uncertainty around the nation's bedrock retirement programs.

September 1, 2021 12:03 a.m.

COVID recession pushed Social Security insolvency up a year

WASHINGTON (AP) — The sharp shock of the coronavirus recession pushed Social Security a year closer to insolvency but left Medicare’s exhaustion date unchanged, the government reported Tuesday in a counterintuitive assessment that deepens the uncertainty around the nation's bedrock retirement programs.