Inflation eased in December as core consumer prices rose at the slowest annual rate since March 2021 in the final month of the year. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Tuesday morning showed that on a "core" basis — which excludes the more volatile categories of food and energy — consumer prices rose 0.2% over the previous month and 2.6% over the previous year. The 2.6% increase in "core" CPI matches the rise reported in November and equals the slowest pace of a ...