The flat reading for consumer prices followed a modest 0.2 percent rise in October and declines in August and September, the Labor Department reported Tuesday.
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In November past year, it was at 3.27 per cent. Overall, consumer food inflation rose to 6.07 per cent in November, government data showed on Monday.
Excluding food and energy prices, core producer prices still rose by 0.3 percent in November after falling by 0.3 percent in October.
The Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, the index of personal consumption expenditures, has not hit the central bank’s 2 per cent target in three and a half years. Core inflation, on the other hand, increased by 0.2% month on month and 2.0% year on year on the same month.
Medical care costs increased 0.4 per cent. The cost of doctor visits increased 1.1 per cent, while prescription drug prices advanced 0.4 per cent. Hospital costs, however, fell 0.2 per cent after rising in October.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the increase from the -0.1 per cent figure recorded in October – a move which was in line with economists’ expectations – was primarily due to transport, alcohol and tobacco costs. Prices were largely held down over the past year by a 14.7 per cent year-over-year decline in energy prices. The wholesale price index is also higher, though marginally. Deputy governor Minouche Shafik said yesterday that she would need to see sustained wage growth sufficient to push inflation back up to target before voting for higher rates.
Members of the Bank’s nine-strong Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted eight to one to keep rates unchanged in its final decision of 2015, as they have done now for more than six years. The CPI increased 0.5 percent before seasonal adjustment over the past 12 months. “Hence clothing prices showing a record fall between October and November”.
Every major grocery store food group index, except fruits and vegetables, fell last month.
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Urban inflation rate rose to 4.71 per cent in November 2015 from 4.28 per cent in November 2014, while rural inflation stood at 5.9 per cent, up from 4.28 per cent in November a year ago.
