Washington: US consumer price inflation rose for a third straight month in December as energy prices rose, according to government data published on Wednesday, increasing pressure on the Federal Reserve to halt interest rate cuts.
The Labor Department said in a statement that the consumer price index accelerated to 2.9 percent last month compared to a year ago, compared to 2.7 percent in November.
This was in line with the average forecast of economists surveyed Dow Jones Newswire and Wall Street Journal.
The US central bank has cut interest rates by a full percentage point since September as it looks to support the labor market.
The recent rise in inflation adds to expectations that it will remain on hold at the next interest rate decision later this month.
In good news for the Federal Reserve, annual inflation excluding volatile food and energy costs came in at a lower-than-expected 3.2 percent last month, representing a slight decline from the previous month.
On a monthly basis, inflation rose by 0.4% in December, and by 0.2% excluding food and energy.