The Federal Reserve's favored measure of inflation -- the core personal consumption expenditure (PCE) price index published by the U.S. Commerce Department -- rose just one-tenth of a percentage point in February, producing a year-over-year rate of 1.8%. The index does not include price changes for food and fuel. The overall PCE price index was unchanged in February, the latest month for which there are data, yielding a year-over-year rate of 2.9%, down from 3.1% in January.
The department also reported on March 31 that personal income increased three-tenths of a percentage point in February. And while that was less than half the seven-tenths rate for January, personal spending rose just one-tenth of a percent, down dramatically from its eight-tenths increase in January.
