U.S. Consumer Price Rise Matches Expectations

ByJohn S. McClenahen With energy prices rising 0.9%, the U.S. Labor Department's closely watched Consumer Price Index (CPI) advanced 0.2% in January, in line with economists' expectations. Although it was the first increase in four months, that's not worrying Maury Harris, chief U.S. economist at UBS Warburg LLC, New York. "With global growth remaining sluggish this year . . . energy prices likely will not rise persistently," he says. Indeed, "looking forward, we anticipate that core CPI inflation [total CPI minus energy and food] will cool in the year ahead, as is typical in the early stages of recovery."