On track with expectations, inflation cooled slightly in February.
The latest consumer price index (CPI) shows prices rising 0.4 percent month-over-month in February, down from 0.5 percent in January, while the annual inflation is up 6 percent, down from 6.4 percent.
Shelter accounted for 70 percent of the increase, rising 0.8 percent. The jump came despite efforts by the Federal Reserve to tamp down on home prices by rapidly raising interest rates.
Food prices, meanwhile, decelerated from 0.5 percent to 0.4 percent, and energy prices declined 0.6 percent after rising 2 percent in January. The drop in energy prices was mostly powered by a 7.9 percent drop in fuel oil prices.
Used car prices also fell a whopping 2.8 percent. Once one of the main drivers of inflation, the category is now helping bring down the index.
Union leaders and Hollywood studios reached a tentative agreement Sunday to end a historic screenwriters strike after nearly five months, though no deal is yet in the works for striking actors.
The Week's Top Stories is a guided tour through the biggest market stories of the week, from winning stocks to brutal dips to the facts and forecasts generating buzz on Wall Street. This week we're highlighting, Microsoft and Activision Blizzard, the UAW strike, Fox Corp. and News Corp. shake-up, interest rate decision, and Cisco scooping up Splunk.
