US inflation gains persist in November

[WASHINGTON] US inflation increased as expected in November, marking four straight months of rising consumer prices, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

The news comes a day after the US central bank raised the benchmark interest rates for only the second time in a decade in a bid to keep prices stable as the world's largest economy continues to slowly recover.

The consumer price index rose 0.2 per cent for the month on a seasonally adjusted basis, matching analyst expectations.

The monthly index, which measures changes in the prices of goods and services bought by households, has now risen in eight of the last nine months.

For the latest 12 month period, CPI was 1.7 per cent higher, and has shown continuous increases since July.

Prices for housing and gasoline were again the main drivers in the index's increase. Gasoline surged 2.7 per cent from October.

Excluding the more volatile categories of food and fuel, the monthly CPI increase was also 0.2 per cent, up a tenth from October and driven mostly by the cost of housing. This core CPI measure rose 2.1 per cent when compared to November of 2015.

The index for airline fares, however, has decreased for two straight months, falling by 1.3 per cent in November and 2.2 per cent in October, according to Thursday's figures.

Medical care services rose 0.2 per cent, after having been unchanged for two months.

AFP