Inflation is still slowing, it's just that last December was abnormally low. So when it dropped out of the year-over-year number and was replaced by a more normal reading, the headline number went up slightly.
But the overall trend is still the same. Inflation is roughly at target, but the headline number is being held up by ~30% mortgage interest inflation. And so far at least, we're not seeing the increase in energy prices that we saw in January 2023, so there's a good chance that early 2024 inflation will be more muted than early 2023.
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