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Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed a 0.3 percent decrease for overall inflation in November, which NAFCU Chief Economist and Director of Research Curt Long said was the largest decline in headline consumer inflation in six years.

Overall consumer price index growth was 1.3 percent year-over-year, down from October's rate of 1.7 percent. Long attributed the decrease to "a sharp decline in the energy index as gasoline, fuel oil and natural gas all declined in November."

While the consumer price index growth slowed this month, core PCE inflation (the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation metric) has been moving closer to the Fed's inflation target. "As long as the gap between current and target inflation continues to narrow, the pressure for the Fed to raise interest rates will grow," Long wrote in a NAFCU Macro Data Flash. He said core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) inflation growth showed 1.55 percent year-over-year growth in October – which is 30 basis points up from January but still below the Fed's 2 percent target. (For now, the Fed says it can be "patient" on rates for a while.)

Core prices, excluding food and energy prices, increased by 0.1 percent in November, while energy prices decreased by 3.8 percent, following a 1.9 percent decrease in October. Food prices increased by 0.1 percent in November, and were up 3.1 percent from the previous year.