Entering 2025, models from forecasting companies like Trading Economics anticipate inflation rates between 2.4% and 2.9% between the end of 2024 and the start of 2026. Unfortunately, actually predicting inflation can be difficult, as rates can be affected by a variety of factors, including political climates and supply-chain interruptions.

The Consumer Price Index rose 2.9 percent from a year earlier, but a measure of underlying inflation was more encouraging.

The Labor Department released the inflation report for December, which showed prices were up 2.9% from a year ago, in line with economists expectations and up from 2.7% in November.

Gas prices rose sharply, but investors homed in on a small decline in the core CPI.

U.S. consumer prices increased by the most in nine months in December amid higher costs for energy goods, pointing to still-elevated inflation that aligns with the Federal Reserve's projections for fewer interest rate cuts this year.

The consumer price index, an inflation gauge, rose 2.9% on an annual basis in December 2024 on the back of higher food and energy prices.

Recently, progress on inflation appeared to be stuck or, at worst, reversing: A closely watched gauge of underlying price hikes — an index that excludes highly volatile categories — hadn’t budged for months.

Consumer inflation increased 2.9% in 2024, which is above the Federal Reserve's goal of 2%, but wages overall more than kept up with higher prices.

The annual inflation rate for housing and household services was 6.0% in December 2024, up from 5.8% in November. This compares with a recent peak of 11.8% observed in January and February 2023. On a monthly basis, prices rose by 0.4% in December 2024, compared with a rise of 0.3% a year ago.

According to BLS, natural gas prices in the metro Atlanta area were up almost 15% while gasoline rose nearly 4%, though electricity costs fell 2.1%. The next look at the Atlanta area’s price trends will be published in March.

Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, so-called core inflation declined to 3.2%, after remaining stuck at 3.3% for three months in a row.