(Bloomberg) -- U.S. consumer prices soared last year by the most in nearly four decades, illustrating red-hot inflation that sets the stage for the start of Federal Reserve interest-rate hikes as soon as March.
The consumer price index climbed 7% in 2021, according to Labor Department data released Wednesday. The widely followed inflation gauge rose 0.5% from November, exceeding forecasts.
Follow the reaction in real time here on Bloomberg’s TOPLive blog
The median forecasts in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a 7% annual gain and a 0.4% advance in the monthly measure.
Excluding the volatile food and energy components, so-called core prices rose 0.6% from the prior month and 5.5% from a year earlier.
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
