December's inflation figures reveal some nuanced movements worth tracking. The headline CPI climbed 0.31% month-over-month, while core inflation—stripping out volatile food and energy—came in at 0.24%, marking a notable pullback. Digging deeper into the details, supercore CPI printed at 0.287%, which pushed the year-over-year rate to 2.741%, ticking up from November's 2.703%. Meanwhile, the labor market shows real average hourly earnings gaining 1.1% on a YoY basis, an improvement from 0.8% the prior month. These data points paint a picture of moderating price pressures paired with improving wage growth in real terms—dynamics that typically influence monetary policy trajectories and broader market sentiment.