Consumer Inflation Slowed, Core Rate Accelerated In February
- Brian Turner
- Mar 14, 2023
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Overall consumer Inflation remained stubbornly high in February and core inflation accelerated, driven by acceleration in home price increases.
The consumer price inflation eased to 6.0% in February from 6.4% in January, the U.S. Labor Department reported Tuesday. The price increase was the smallest since September 2021.
On a monthly basis, the overall index increase slowed to 0.4% in February from 0.5% in January.
The shelter index was the largest contributor to the overall inflation accounting for 70% of total increase in the month.
Core prices excluding food and energy accelerated to 0.5% in February from 0.4% in January and rose 5.5% on an annual basis.
The energy index slowed to 5.2% in February from 8.7% in the previous month, the food index increase slowed to 9.5% from 10.1% but the shelter index jumped to 8.1% from 7.9%.