The U.S. annual inflation rate eased to 6.4 percent in January, down from 6.5 percent in December, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). This was higher than economists’ expectations of 6.2 percent.
The core inflation rate, which excludes the volatile energy and food sectors, slowed to 5.6 percent year over year last month, down from 5.7 percent. This was also higher than the market estimate of 5.5 percent.
On a month-over-month basis, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.5 percent, and the core CPI increased 0.4 percent.
Nearly all the indexes jumped on a monthly basis, with food prices rising 0.5 percent and energy costs surging 2 percent. The food and energy indexes were 10.1 percent and 8.7 percent higher, respectively, than at the same time a year ago….