The federal government’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released new price inflation data today, and according to the report, price inflation during the month decelerated slightly, coming in at the lowest year- over- year increase in sixteen months. According to the BLS, Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation rose 6.4 percent year over year in January before seasonal adjustment. That’s down very slightly from December’s year- over- year increase of 6.5 percent, and January is the twenty-third month in a row with inflation above the Fed’s arbitrary 2 percent inflation target. Price inflation has now been above 6.0 percent for sixteen months in a row.
Meanwhile, month-over-month inflation rose to a three-month high, with the CPI rising 0.5 percent (seasonally adjusted) from December to January.