Today's CPI report wasn't universally received as good news. From Bloomberg:
U.S. Treasury notes fell after a measure of inflation rose the most since 2001, bolstering speculation the Federal Reserve will continue to raise its benchmark interest rate.
The 10-year security fell for the second straight day after the Labor Department said its consumer price index rose 3.5 percent in November from a year earlier, the biggest gain since mid-2001. The data surprised some investors just three days after the Fed said inflation remains tame...
But the folks at CNBC/Rueters had a different take.
Treasuries prices were swept lower for a second straight session on Friday as technical selling from different pockets of the market overshadowed a moderate set of U.S. inflation numbers...
The sell-off came in spite of an as-expected rise of 0.2 percent in both the consumer price index and the core index excluding food and energy.
This should have been a relief to the bond market after two months of upside surprises on inflation, but an initial bounce in Treasuries was quickly smothered by sellers.
I'm not sure how to interpret daily movements in the Treasury market -- there be dragons there -- but the the report certainly can't hurt the case for being just a tiny bit concerned. The growth rate of the median CPI -- the Cleveland Fed's measure of core inflation -- was more or less unchanged. But the still not-so-great news is that its annualized growth rate for November was 2.3 percent, right on its 12-month rate and now consistent with the 12-month rate for the traditional core measure -- the consumer price index less food and energy components -- which has been drifting up consistently over the course of the year.