Fast-rising wages may cause the Fed to raise rates faster; January CPI is coming

Inflationary pressures in the U.S. continued to heat up at the start of the year, data are expected to show, likely putting a Federal Reserve interest-rate increase next month on autopilot.

Bureau of Labor Statistics will release consumer price index for January this Thursday. The consumer price index probably jumped 7.3% in January from a year ago, the largest annual advance since early 1982, according to the median projection in a Bloomberg survey of economists. Excluding volatile energy and food categories, the CPI is projected to have risen 5.9%.