Inflation & Prices

US Core PCE Inflation Picks Up While Consumers Show Resilience

  • Price gauge excluding food and energy rose 0.5% in September
  • Inflation-adjusted spending advanced 0.3%, more than expected
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A core gauge of US inflation accelerated in September, while consumer spending stayed resilient, indicating widespread price pressures and solid demand that reinforce the Federal Reserve’s case for another big interest-rate hike next week.

The personal consumption expenditures price index excluding food and energy, a key measure of underlying inflation tracked by the Federal Reserve, rose 0.5% from a month earlier, Commerce Department data showed Friday. From a year ago, the gauge was up 5.1%, a pickup from the prior month, though slightly below economists’ forecasts.