Yearly rate of CPI inflation climbs to highest level since Feb 1982
U.S. consumer prices soared last year by the most in nearly four decades, illustrating red-hot inflation that sets the stage for the start of Federal Reserve interest-rate hikes as soon as March.The consumer price index climbed 7% in 2021, according to Labor Department data released Wednesday. The widely followed inflation gauge rose 0.5% from November, exceeding forecasts.The median forecasts in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a 7% annual gain and a 0.4% advance in the monthly measu