America’s final inflation report for 2023 just came in

US consumer prices rose 3.4% annually to close out 2023, capping a year of substantial progress on efforts to rein in decades-high inflation.

US consumer prices rose 3.4% annually to close out 2023, capping a year of substantial progress on efforts to rein in decades-high inflation. The Consumer Price Index, a closely watched inflation gauge that measures the average price changes for commonly purchased goods and services, rose 0.3% in December from the month before, matching expectations, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data released Thursday. The monthly and annual numbers for December were higher than those seen in November, when tumbling gas prices drove the overall index lower. In December, gas prices stayed mostly in neutral, rising 0.2%, while rising shelter costs accounted for more than half of the monthly all-items increase, according to the BLS report. Economists were expecting the annual overall inflation rate to tick higher, to 3.2% from the 3.1% headline reading the month before, according to FactSet consensus estimates. Despite the upswing, the annual rate of consumer-level inflation is down considerably from December 2022’s rate of 6.5%; additionally, a closely watched measure of underlying inflation slowed further. When removing the more volatile categories of food and gas, core CPI measured 3.9% annually, a step back from November’s 4% reading and the lowest annual increase that index has seen since May 2021.