A supermarket shopper walks past a display of eggs for sale on Feb. 10, 2025 in Monterey Park, California.
Frederic J. Brown | AFP | Getty Images
Inflation perked up more than anticipated in January, providing further incentive for the Federal Reserve to hold the line on interest rates.
The consumer price index, a broad measure of costs in goods and services across the U.S. economy, accelerated a seasonally adjusted 0.5% for the month, putting the annual inflation rate at 3%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday. They were higher than the respective Dow Jones estimates for 0.3% and 2.9%. The annual rate was 0.1 percentage point higher than December.
Excluding volatile food and energy prices, CPI rose 0.4% on the month, putting the 12-month inflation rate at 3.3%. That compared to respective estimates for 0.3% and 3.1%. The annual core rate also was up 0.1 percentage point from December.
Shelter costs continued to be a problem for inflation, rising 0.4% on the month and accounting for about 30% of the entire increase, the BLS said.
Food prices jumped 0.4%, pushed by a 15.2% surge in egg prices related to ongoing problems with avian bird flu that have forced farmers to destroy millions of chickens. The bureau said it was the largest increase in egg prices since June 2015 and it was responsible for about two-thirds of the increase in food at home prices. Egg prices have soared 53% over the past year.
Markets tumbled following the news, with futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average sliding more than 400 points while bond yields scaled sharply higher.
The report comes a day after Fed Chair Jerome Powell indicated the central bank could be on hold for a while when it comes to interest rates.
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