The Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation rose last month to the strongest reading in more than two years, providing fresh evidence of firming prices a day before policy makers meet to discuss the path of interest rates this year, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The personal-consumption-expenditures price index advanced 0.2 percent in December from the prior month, the Commerce Department said yesterday. The measure of consumer inflation rose 1.6 percent from a year earlier, a 12-month increase last seen in September 2014. The reading was last higher in July that year. The report also showed consumer spending increased solidly last month, with strong year-end car sales and higher utility spending with the return of seasonably cool temperatures.
