A highly anticipated report released by the Labor Department on Wednesday showed consumer prices in the U.S. increased in line with estimates in the month of July.
The Labor Department said its consumer price index rose by 0.2 percent in July after edging down by 0.1 percent in June. The modest increase by consumer prices matched expectations.
Core consumer prices, which exclude food and energy prices, also crept up by 0.2 percent in July after inching up by 0.1 percent in June. The uptick by core consumer prices was also in line with economist estimates.
Meanwhile, the report said the annual rate of consumer price growth slowed slightly to 2.9 percent in July from 3.0 percent in June. Economists had expected the pace of growth to remain unchanged.
The annual rate of core consumer price growth also slipped to 3.2 percent in July from 3.3 percent in June, in line with expectations.
At 10:30 am ET, the Energy Information Administration is scheduled to release its report on oil inventories in the week ended August 9th.
Crude oil inventories are expected to decrease by 2.0 million barrels after falling by 3.7 million barrels in the previous week.