Recently in the United States, the latest inflation figures were released. In a surprising turn of events, the annual inflation rate has actually slowed down from the level it was at in December. However, this slowdown wasn’t as significant as economists had projected. As for the core inflation rate, it has remained the same as it was in December.
In January, consumer prices saw an increase by 3.1 percent compared to the same month of the previous year. This figure was a bit higher than the 2.9 percent inflation rate that economists, whose consensus was compiled by Bloomberg, had expected. Back in December, the annual inflation rate stood at 3.4 percent.
The January report also included numbers for core inflation, which is a measure that excludes the impact of food and energy on consumer prices. The core inflation rate was 3.9 percent year-on-year in January, slightly higher than the 3.7 percent that economists had predicted. This rate remained unchanged from December when it was also 3.9 percent year-on-year.
On a monthly basis, consumer prices increased by 0.3 percent in January from December’s level. Economists had predicted a slightly lower increase of 0.2 percent. In December, consumer prices had also seen a rise of 0.3 percent from the level in November.
When adjusted for the effects of food and energy prices, consumer prices in January rose by 0.4 percent from December’s level. This figure was higher than the 0.3 percent that economists had predicted. In December, the core inflation rate was 0.3 percent of November’s level.
It’s worth noting that this is the highest monthly increase in the core inflation rate that we’ve seen in eight months.
Following the release of these inflation figures, interest rates on US government bonds saw a significant jump. The interest rate on the ten-year government bond dropped from about 4.150 percent to 4.290 percent.
On Tuesday, Wall Street started the trading day on a bearish note. Approximately 90 minutes after the stock markets opened, all three stock indices – the Dow Jones, the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq – had fallen by more than 1 percent.
Update 13 February 2024 at 18:08: The story was updated to include the latest developments of stock indices.
