Inflation data give Fed another topic for debate

Published June 17, 2014 9:18pm ET



WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve received some further cause for discussion at its policy meeting this week with a report Tuesday of a surprising jump in consumer inflation.

Yet most economists aren’t altering their view that the Fed’s first interest rate increase is at least a year away. Analysts cautioned that that time frame could change if inflation were to accelerate. The consumer price index rose 0.4 percent in May, the government said, and has risen 2.1 percent over the past 12 months — roughly at the level of the Fed’s target rate for inflation.

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