Bitcoin Jumps After U.S. CPI Report Shows Slower-Than-Expected November Inflation

The U.S. consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.1% in November from the month prior, slowing more than expected from October’s 0.4% pace, in a sign of progress in the Federal Reserve's campaign to bring down soaring inflation.

On an annual basis, the CPI rose 7.1%, the U.S. Labor Department reported Tuesday, below the 7.3% projected by economists in a FactSet survey.

Bitcoin (BTC), which has been relatively steady so far in December, jumped 2% in the minutes after the report was released, to about $17,930.

Traders have been monitoring the data for signs of whether the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate hikes this year are helping to bring down the pace of consumer-price increases, which earlier this year hit a four-decade high. In general, tighter monetary policy puts downward pressure on prices of risky assets, from stocks to cryptocurrencies.

The Fed’s monetary-policy setting group, the Federal Open Market Committee or FOMC, is meeting this week behind closed doors, with a decision scheduled for Wednesday along with fresh projections by officials on the future path of economic indicators.

Core CPI – which excludes food and energy because they tend to be more volatile – rose 0.2% in November, also a slowdown from October.