数据点评 | 通胀，风险暂时可控——2025年12月美国CPI数据点评（申万宏观·赵伟团队）

Overview - The overall CPI for December in the US met expectations, while the core CPI was slightly weaker than anticipated, primarily due to weak performance in the goods sector. The December CPI year-on-year was 2.7% and month-on-month was 0.3%, aligning with market expectations. However, the core CPI year-on-year was 2.6%, slightly below the expected 2.7%, and month-on-month was 0.2%, compared to the expected 0.3% [1][5][43]. Structure - Vehicle inflation significantly weakened, with new and used car prices showing month-on-month changes of 0% and -1.1%, respectively, which had a considerable negative impact. In contrast, clothing, toys, and other tariff-sensitive goods saw a month-on-month increase, indicating that tariff transmission may still have room to operate. Statistical biases, such as double-month samples and holiday effects, may have influenced inflation but to a lesser extent than market expectations [2][18][44]. - Core service inflation in December showed an uptick, particularly in rent and super core services. The rent CPI increased by 0.4% month-on-month in December, up from 0.2% in September, although future rent inflation is expected to cool down. Non-rent services, including medical and transportation services, also saw an increase, with airfares rising to 5.2%, reflecting robust consumer demand in the US [2][24][44]. Outlook - In the first half of 2026, US inflation may remain sticky, but a transition to a "disinflation" phase is anticipated in the second half. The implementation of tax cuts in early 2026 is expected to gradually boost household income, consumption, and inflation, thereby enhancing the last mile of tariff transmission. However, as the impact of tax cuts diminishes in the latter half of 2026 and the first-year tariff transmission concludes, inflation is projected to begin a sustained decline [3][29][34][45]. - The Federal Reserve's response function indicates that inflation is not the primary concern at this time, and the pace of interest rate cuts may be delayed. The Fed is expected to adopt a data-dependent approach, considering rate cuts only if economic data shows significant weakness. The impact of the tax cuts from the "Inflation Reduction Act" on the economy and inflation will likely influence the timing of any rate cuts [3][34][45].