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Inflation Sped Up in December, a Fresh Challenge for the Fed
The Consumer Price Index rose 2.9 percent from a year earlier, but a measure of underlying inflation was more encouraging.

By Ben Casselman
Jan. 15, 2025

Consumer prices rose more quickly in December, the latest sign that the Federal Reserve’s fight against inflation may have stalled.

The Consumer Price Index rose 0.4 percent from November, and was up 2.9 percent from a year earlier, the Labor Department said on Wednesday. It was the fastest one-month increase in overall prices since February, driven in part by another sharp rise in the price of eggs and other groceries.

The “core” measure of inflation, which strips out volatile food and fuel prices to give a better sense of the underlying trend, was more encouraging: The index rose 3.2 percent from a year earlier after three straight months of 3.3 percent gains. Forecasters had not expected core inflation to slow.

Inflation has cooled substantially since the middle of 2022, when it hit a four-decade high of more than 9 percent. More recently, however, progress has slowed, or even stopped outright: By some measures, inflation hardly improved in 2024.

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Joe Rennison contributed reporting.

Ben Casselman writes about economics with a particular focus on stories involving data. He has covered the economy for nearly 20 years, and his recent work has focused on how trends in labor, politics, technology and demographics have shaped the way we live and work. More about Ben Casselman

A version of this article appears in print on Jan. 16, 2025, Section B, Page 1 of the New York edition with the headline: Inflation Accelerated In December. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe