US CPI unexpectedly slows to 2.7% in November; weekly jobless lower

US consumer price inflation was well below market expectations in November, data published by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics showed on Thursday.

The consumer price index rose by 2.7% in November from a year before, slowing from 3.0% annual inflation in September. Market consensus cited by FXStreet had expected inflation to increase to 3.1% in November.

The BLS did not collect survey data for October due to "a lapse in appropriations". The US government was in shutdown back in October.

The BLS did not give a month-on-month CPI figure for November as it did not collect October data. Over the two months from September to November, the CPI for all urban consumers was 0.2% on a seasonally adjusted basis. In September, the on-month rate had been 0.3%.

Separately, the Department of Labor reported that the latest number of new unemployment insurance claims was 224,000 in the week that ended December 13, a decrease of 13,000 from 237,000 a week prior, the latter of which was revised up from 236,000.

The latest reading was lower than market consensus for 225,000 initial jobless claims.

Continuing jobless claims were up by 67,000 at 1.897 million in the week that ended December 6, with the previous week's figure revised down by 8,000 to 1.830 million.