Investors cheered the news that inflation dramatically slumped in November, but economists caution that this dip may not last.
Thursday’s CPI report was unusually noisy, due in large part to the fact that the BLS did not publish much of the October price data after staff were unable to collect and process information retroactively. The missing data included the headline and core monthly and annual percentage changes in the index, making it difficult to draw firm conclusions.
After headline CPI readings increased 3% year over year in September, price growth decelerated to just 2.7% in November. That indicates the CPI rose by an average of only 0.1% month over month in October and November after logging an average monthly pace of 0.3% from July to September, writes Paul Ashworth, chief North America economist at Capital Economics.
