Inflation & Prices
Fed’s Preferred Inflation Metric Cools While Spending Rebounds
- Core PCE price index rose 0.3% after robust January reading
- Consumer spending exceeded all estimates given strong wages
The Federal Reserve’s preferred gauge of underlying inflation cooled last month while household spending rebounded.
The so-called core personal consumption expenditures price index, which strips out the volatile food and energy components, increased 0.3% from the prior month, data out Friday showed. That followed a 0.5% reading in January, marking the biggest back-to-back gain in a year.