Investing.com - Consumer price inflation in the U.S. was flat in November, while prices excluding food and energy costs inched up modestly, official data showed on Tuesday.
In a report, the U.S. Commerce Department said that consumer prices were unchanged from a month earlier, meeting expectations and following a gain of 0.2% in October.
Year-over-year, consumer prices were 0.5% higher from the same month a year earlier, compared to expectations for a 0.4% increase and after rising 0.2% in October.
Consumer prices, excluding food and energy costs, increased by a seasonally adjusted 0.2%, meeting expectations. Core consumer prices rose 0.2% in October.
Core CPI increased at annualized rate of 2.0% last month, in line with expectations and up from 1.9% the prior month.
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 1.0987 from around 1.0995 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.5154 from 1.5160 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 121.10 from 121.00 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 97.70, compared to 97.64 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a higher open. The Dow futures pointed to a gain of 78 points, or 0.45%, at the open, the S&P 500 futures indicated a rise 13 points, or 0.63%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures increased 26 points, or 0.57%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,064.50 a troy ounce, compared to $1,064.70 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $36.36 a barrel from $36.23 earlier.