CPI edged higher in December, complicating the Fed's upcoming decision on rate cuts
CBSN
Inflation rose 2.9% on an annual basis in December, with the latest Consumer Price Index illustrating the Federal Reserve's challenge in battling stickier-than-expected price increases.
Last month's CPI was forecast to come in at 2.8%, according to economists surveyed by financial data firm FactSet. The Consumer Price Index, a basket of goods and services typically bought by consumers, tracks the change in those prices over time.
The Federal Reserve began cutting rates in September following a flurry of hikes that helped tame inflation after it hit a four-decade high of 9.1% in June 2022. Yet the Fed has struggled with the last leg of its inflation battle in pushing the CPI to a 2% annual rate, and December's reading could convince the central bank to hold off on another rate cut at its next meeting, scheduled for Jan. 29.
The Army general in charge of U.S. assistance to Ukraine in 2024 left classified maps marked "SECRET" describing the war in Ukraine on a train, a Pentagon watchdog found. In:
Washington — Chief Justice John Roberts warned Tuesday that personal attacks on Supreme Court justices and lower court judges are "dangerous" and said hostility directed toward specific jurists has "got to stop." In:
More Americans are turning to artificial intelligence to manage their finances. But the tech shouldn't be the only tool you rely on to deal with money matters, according to CBS News business analyst Jill Schlesinger. Edited by Aimee Picchi In:
Spring break "takeovers" have started to overwhelm some Florida cities and local officials. Kelsie Hoffman contributed to this report. In:
Motorists are paying sharply higher fuel prices since the outbreak of the Iran war, despite the U.S. being the world's largest oil producer. Why? Edited by Alain Sherter In:
President Trump's director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Joe Kent, announced his immediate resignation Tuesday, citing the decision to begin a war against Iran when "Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation." In:
Air travelers faced hundreds of flight cancellations and thousands of delays on Tuesday in the wake of powerful storms that struck the Midwest and Eastern Seaboard. Many airports also continue to struggle with disruption from reduced staffing at often-jammed security checkpoints amid a partial government shutdown that has lasted more than a month. Mark Strassmann contributed to this report. In:
President Trump has invited farmers and biofuels producers to the White House for a big event next week as the industry awaits the government's announcement on mandates for the fuel additives. In:
A bitter Democratic primary is unfolding in Maine as two candidates battle for the chance to challenge five-term Republican Sen. Susan Collins, one of the GOP's most vulnerable incumbents in the upcoming midterm elections.
From a surprising heatwave in California to blizzards burying parts of the Midwest and storms rolling over the East Coast, chaotic weather put more than half the nation's population in the path of extreme conditions Monday.
The race to fill the seat of retiring Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin has been heating up in the days leading up to Tuesday's 2026 Democratic primary and could set the tone for other midterm primaries on issues like President Trump's deportation policies and outside spending. And another factor in the race is Gov. JB Pritzker's attempt at powerbrokering: he's given his endorsement and millions in campaign funds to his lieutenant governor, Julianna Stratton. In:
A man who was accused of planting pipe bombs outside the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee headquarters on the eve of the Jan. 6 attack in 2021 is asking a judge to dismiss the criminal charges against him, arguing he is covered by President Trump's sweeping pardons of alleged Jan. 6 rioters.
Kouri Richins, a Utah mother accused of murdering her husband and later publishing a children's book about grief, has been found guilty on all charges by a jury in Utah. The Associated Press contributed to this report. In: