Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) climbed to +6.4% in February, its 15th straight monthly gain which ties the prior record set in 1980. Core PCE, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure which excludes volatile food and energy prices, also jumped to a new high of +5.4%. Also –because this report only reflects price changes from the month of February– the majority of inflationary disruptions from the Russia-Ukraine crisis have not yet been taken into account, meaning PCE could climb even higher ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting on May 3-4.
