Good morning from the Financial Times. Today is Friday, December 19th, and this is your FT News Briefing.

Yesterday's U.S. inflation report is being questioned by economists. Plus, we asked you how your spending has changed this holiday season. You answered, our consumer editor, Claire Barrett, gives her thoughts.

I'm Mark Filipino, and here's the news you need to start your day.

Inflation in the U.S. unexpectedly dipped to 2.7% in November.

The report that came out yesterday showed a number well below the 3.1% figure economists predicted.

And economists, well, they think something's up with the report.

Namely that the government shut down that ran from October 1st until November 12th skewed the numbers.

A senior economist at J.P. Morgan said the lower figures suggest that because the Bureau of Labor

Statistics estimated many of the numbers due to the shutdown, they may not be an accurate reflection

of real-world prices, and there's a strong chance they'll have to be revised.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics noted, quote,

for a few indexes, BLS uses non-survey data sources instead of survey data to make the index

calculations.

The holiday season is the most wonderful time of the year, but it's also the most expensive.

Between gifts, food, and travel, people can end up spending a lot of money.

This year, economic conditions are tough for lots of folks.

So how are people reacting to high prices, and what can you do to reduce excess spending? To find out, I'm here with Claire Barrett, the FTs consumer editor.

You may have seen her on the FT's TikTok and Instagram. Claire, welcome to the show.

Oh, thanks for having me, Mark. It's great to be on. It's a real pleasure. So Claire, a bunch of

listeners sent us messages about their holiday spending habits. I'd like to ask you what you think of them and maybe ask you a couple of questions. How's that sound? Oh, I'm so ready for this. Let's do it. All right. Here's the first one. Hi, Mark. This is Jason from London. This year we've decided to do Secret Santa as a family in order to save money and be more environmentally conscious.

That way we only buy one gift each and each person receives one gift. We set the limit to 75 pounds.

We're fortunate not having to cut back too much, but it is one way of saving a bit of money while also getting something nice.

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