US core inflation slows, giving Fed Reserve some breathing room on rates

The overall CPI increased 0.1 per cent from the prior month and was up 7.1 per cent from a year earlier, as lower energy prices helped offset rising food costs

A key gauge of US consumer prices posted the smallest monthly advance in more than a year, indicating the worst of inflation has likely passed and validating an anticipated slowing in the pace of Federal Reserve interest-rate hikes.

Excluding food and energy, the consumer price index rose 0.2 per cent in November and was up 6 per cent from a year earlier, according to a Labor Department report Tuesday. Economists see the gauge — known as the core CPI — as a better indicator of underlying inflation than the headline measure.

The overall CPI increased 0.1 per