Scott Horsley

Gasoline prices have fallen over the last year, but the cost of electricity and natural gas is way up.

Stubborn inflation is likely to make the Federal Reserve cautious about additional cuts to interest rates, despite pressure from President Trump.

On Sunday, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said the Justice Department had launched an investigation of the central bank and suggested that's part of the administration's long-running pressure campaign to exert more control over interest rates.

Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington.

Consumer prices in December were up 2.7 percent from a year ago.

That's the same annual increase we saw in November.

So inflation's not getting worse, but it's not getting better either.

Gasoline prices were down during the year, but grocery prices were up.

The cost of electricity and natural gas jumped sharply.

Stripping out volatile food and energy prices, so-called core inflation was 2.6 percent in December, also unchanged from the month before.

The cost of living report comes two weeks before the next meeting of the Federal Reserve.

Fed policymakers are expected to hold interest rates steady after cutting rates at their last three meetings.

The central bank is trying to balance concerns over stubborn inflation with a softening job market.

Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington.

The group is speaking out after word the Justice Department served subpoenas on the Fed last week, seeking information about its costly headquarters renovation and Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's testimony about it.

Powell says the probe is part of a long-running pressure campaign by the Trump administration designed to intimidate the central bank and force it to adopt much lower interest rates.

The bipartisan group of economic officials warns that's how monetary policy is typically made in much less developed countries with weak institutions.

They argue such tactics have no place in the United States, where the rule of law is a great source of strength and economic success.

Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington.

The Federal Reserve says it received grand jury subpoenas late last week about the renovation of the Central Bank's headquarters building in Washington.