Inflation ticked up to a 2.5% annual rate in February, as measured by the gauge favored by the Federal Reserve, rising one-tenth of a percentage point from the previous reading.
The uptick in the personal consumption expenditures price index reported Friday morning by the Bureau of Economic Analysis is unwelcome news for President Biden and the Federal Reserve, which has been seeking more evidence that its campaign to lower inflation by raising interest rates is working. The Fed’s target is 2% inflation in the PCE index.
From January to February, inflation rose 0.3%, slightly less than expected.
Core PCE inflation, a measure of inflation that strips out volatile energy and food prices, remained at a 2.8% year-over-year rate.
This latest report follows two other inflation reports for February, both of which showed inflation rising — the closely watched consumer price index and the producer price index,
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