Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell no doubt had started to relax about the economy — but now everything has changed. That's because the Consumer Price Index for December increased over the last 12 months to 2.9%, making the third month in a row it has jumped. Core inflation (excluding food and energy prices) was up 3.2%.

Combined with last week’s release of the job numbers, it makes it more difficult for the Federal Reserve to consider another rate cut. The result is continued low-level economic uncertainty.

Energy price increases accounted for more than 40% of the all-items increase, climbing 2.6% month-over-month after a 0.2% increase in November. Shelter was up 4.6% in the last 12 months, the smallest 12-month increase since January 2022.