US consumer prices dip into negative territory, but core prices hold up
US consumer prices drifted into negative territory in January as energy prices dropped by an out-sized 9.7%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
The consumer price index (CPI) fell by 0.7% month-on-month after a revised fall of 0.3% in December.
Analysts had pencilled in a drop of 0.6% over the month.
In comparison with the year-ago month prices were down by 0.1%, as expected.
Core consumer prices, which strip out food and energy, increased by 0.2% on the month (1.6% year-on-year), in-line with economists’ estimates.