While the Labor Department released a report on Wednesday showing consumer prices in the U.S. increased in line with estimates in the month of August, the annual rate of consumer price growth slowed by slightly more than expected.
The Labor Department said its consumer price index rose by 0.2 percent in August, matching the uptick seen in July as well as economist estimates.
Meanwhile, the report said the annual rate of consumer price growth slowed to 2.5 percent in August from 2.9 percent in July. Economists had expected the year-over-year growth to decelerate to 2.6 percent.
With the bigger than expected slowdown, consumer prices saw the smallest 12-month increase since February 2021.
The Labor Department also said core consumer prices, which exclude food and energy prices, climbed by 0.3 percent in August after rising by 0.2 in July. Economists had expected core prices to rise by another 0.2 percent.
The annual rate of core consumer price growth was unchanged from the previous month at 3.2 percent in August, in line with economist estimates.
At 10:30 am ET, the Energy Information Administration is scheduled to release its report on crude oil inventories in the week ended September 6th.
Crude oil inventories are expected to inch up by 0.9 million barrels after plunging by 6.9 million barrels in the previous week.
The Treasury Department is due to announce the results of this month’s auction of $39 billion worth of ten-year notes at 1 pm ET.