Prices for goods and services moved up less than expected in February as consumers and businesses worry about the impact tariffs might have on inflation, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday.
The consumer price index, a wide-ranging measure of costs across the U.S. economy, ticked up a seasonally adjusted 0.2% for the month, putting the annual inflation rate at 2.8%, according to the Labor Department agency.
Excluding food and energy prices, core CPI also rose 0.2% on the month and was at 3.1% on a 12-month basis.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for 0.3% increases on both headline and core, with respective annual rates of 2.9% and 3.2%, meaning that all of the rates were 0.1 percentage point less than expected.
Stock market futures added to gains after the release while Treasury yields rose.
Shelter costs moved up 0.3%, less than in January but still responsible for about half the monthly increase in CPI, the BLS said. The category makes up more than one-third of the total weighting in the CPI, with particular focus on a measure in which homeowners estimate what they could get in rent for their properties.
Food and energy indexes both increased 0.2%. Used vehicle prices jumped 0.9% and apparel rose 0.6%. Within food, egg prices soared another 10.4%, taking the 12-month increase to 58.8%.
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