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Economy

Labor Department and CPI: From Not Enough Inflation to No Inflation

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By Jon C. Ogg Published
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Inflation
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The Federal Reserve is due to start its two-day FOMC meeting to determine whether to taper its bond buying activities under its quantitative easing measure. If the Labor Department’s report on inflation is accurate, there are no inflationary pressures for the FOMC to worry about. According to the latest release, the November Consumer Price Index (CPI) was unchanged. The core-CPI, which strips out food and energy, rose by 0.2%.

Bloomberg was calling for the reading to be flat on the headline and up 0.1% on the core rate. Dow Jones was calling for a 0.1% gain on the headline and on the core CPI readings. On a year-over-year basis, CPI rose by 1.2% on the headline reading and by 1.7% on the core reading. Both are less than the 2.0% target by the Federal Reserve.

Lower energy prices, with gasoline down 1.6%, in November are helping to mute the prices at this time, and the weak international market segment is doing some of the same. Apparel prices were lower again as well.

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About the Author Jon C. Ogg →

Jon Ogg has been a financial news analyst since 1997. Mr. Ogg set up one of the first audio squawk box services for traders called TTN, which he sold in 2003. He has previously worked as a licensed broker to some of the top U.S. and E.U. financial institutions, managed capital, and has raised private capital at the seed and venture stage. He has lived in Copenhagen, Denmark, as well as New York and Chicago, and he now lives in Houston, Texas. Jon received a Bachelor of Business Administration in finance at University of Houston in 1992. a673b.bigscoots-temp.com.

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