Investing.com - U.S. consumer prices rose at the fastest pace since February 2013 in January, indicating that inflation is gathering momentum, official data showed on Wednesday.
The Commerce Department said that consumer prices increased by a seasonally adjusted 0.6% last month, compared to forecasts for 0.3% and following a gain of 0.3% in December.
Year-over-year, consumer prices were 2.5% higher from the same month a year earlier, compared to expectations for a 2.4% increase and after rising 2.1% in the preceding month.
Consumer prices, excluding food and energy costs, increased by a seasonally adjusted 0.3%, above expectations for 0.2%. Core consumer prices rose 0.2% in December.
Core CPI increased at annualized rate of 2.3% last month, topping forecasts for 2.2% and up from 2.2%.
Core prices are viewed by the Federal Reserve as a better gauge of longer-term inflationary pressure because they exclude the volatile food and energy categories. The central bank usually tries to aim for 2% core inflation or less.
EUR/USD was trading at 1.0523 from around 1.0553 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.2389 from 1.2419 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 114.88 from 114.46 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 101.70, compared to 101.44 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a muted open. The Dow futures pointed to a gain of 4 points at the open, the S&P 500 futures indicated a drop of 3 points, while the Nasdaq 100 futures dipped 4 points.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,219.50 a troy ounce, compared to $1,225.85 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $52.88 a barrel from $52.86 earlier.