The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge moved slightly higher in November — but not as much as economists were expecting, an indication that price hikes aren’t accelerating in a worrisome fashion.

Still, cost of living concerns are growing as 2025 approaches and uncertainty widens about potential inflationary global events and domestic policies.

The Personal Consumption Expenditures price index rose 2.4% in November from the year before, heating up from the 2.3% increase notched in October, according to new Commerce Department data released Friday.

On a monthly basis, prices rose just 0.1%, a slower pace of growth than the 0.2% increase seen in October. Economists expected a 0.2% monthly increase, according to FactSet.

An increase in the annual rate of inflation was fully expected because of comparisons to a year-ago period when inflation cooled rapidly as well as some hurricane- and holiday-driven price hikes considered to be fleeting.

However, Friday’s reading came in better than the 0.2% monthly gain and 2.5% annual increase economists were expecting, according to FactSet consensus estimates.

Plus, the closely watched “core” measure of inflation, which excludes the more-volatile food and energy categories, rose at the slowest monthly pace since May and resulted in the annual rate holding steady at 2.8%, Commerce Department data shows.