One of the US Fed’s favoured measures of inflation is the change in the core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index. The core version strips out energy and food components, which are volatile from month to month, in an attempt to identify the prevailing trend. It’s not the only measure of inflation used; the Fed also tracks the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Producer Price Index (PPI) from the Department of Labor.
The latest figures have been published by the Bureau of Economic Analysis as part of the September personal income and expenditures report. At +0.2% for the month, core PCE inflation was up from August’s flat result and greater than the +0.1% consensus expectation.
