The consumer prices in the United States have seen a slight rise for the month of December even with the households paying a lot more for the health care and the slowing down of the underlying inflation for the month and supporting the desire of Federal Reserve in keeping the rates of interest unchanged for the year.

The inflation report which had come out on Tuesday from the Labor Department was weak and had come in the wake of the data in the previous week which showed a moderation in the growth of jobs for the month of December. The economists have said that the developments had been flagging a major slowdown in the demand domestically. Though right now the economy seems to have maintained a pace that is steady for the growth levels in the fourth quarter, there is a likelihood of falling imports being supporting this.

In the view of the economists, this has given rise to the fears that the demand of the economy might be showing a few signs of it hitting a new patch which is soft for the growth which is going to go on into the 2020’s first quarter.

The Federal Reserve has been on the sidelines in this year however this might change quickly in case the demand weakens in the overall economy and there is little slowdown of inflation for it returning to the target levels.

The December month’s underlying inflation had been held back by the declines in costs of the used trucks and cars, household furnishing and the airline tickets along with the operations which have offset the increases in prices of apparel, health care, recreation, new motor insurance and motor vehicles.