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https://www.ft.com/content/bee83769-fa41-4d18-9dc2-4a46130c72a8 Wall Street economists have warned that November’s US inflation report, which showed a sharp decline in price growth, was flawed because of missing data in the wake of the recent government shutdown.
US consumer prices rose 2.7 per cent in November from the same period the previous year, according to official data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The figure was well below expectations in a Bloomberg poll of 3.1 per cent and September’s rise of 3 per cent.
Core inflation, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, was 2.6 per cent, compared with expectations of 3 per cent.
The report comes after the recent government shutdown halted data collection for a six-week period, forcing the BLS to scrap its October release and estimate many prices rather than using observed data from surveys.
“You’ve got to take it with a grain of salt,” said Diane Swonk, chief economist at KPMG US.
She added: “Things that should be going up are going down and things that should be going down are going up. So it’s confusing and it doesn’t quite square with prices that we’ve observed.”
Inflation had remained stubbornly elevated in recent months, providing a political issue for President Donald Trump as voters grow frustrated with a worsening cost-of-living crunch.
>https://www.ft.com/content/bee83769-fa41-4d18-9dc2-4a46130c72a8 