Prices ticked up in November as Americans keep spending a key inflation measure shows
Jan 22, 2026, 7:15 AM
FILE -A cashier rings up groceries in Dallas, Aug. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS
(AP Photo/LM Otero, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge ticked up in November in the latest sign that prices remain stubbornly elevated.
Consumer prices rose 2.8% in November from a year earlier, the Commerce Department said Thursday, up from a 2.7% annual pace in October. Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core prices also increased 2.8% in November from a year ago, slightly higher than October’s 2.7%.
Inflation has fallen sharply from a four-decade high in 2022 but has mostly leveled off in the past two years.
Still, on a monthly basis prices were milder: Both overall inflation and core inflation moved up just 0.2% in November from October. At that pace, over time inflation would move closer to the Federal Reserve’s target of 2%. Thursday’s data was delayed by the six-week government shutdown last fall.
Also on Thursday, the government said that the economy expanded at a healthy 4.4% annual rate in the July-September quarter, the fastest growth in two years.
