12/20/2024
The Fed’s favored inflation gauge – core PCE – cools slightly in November
The core PCE Price Index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure, edged up 0.1% M/M in November, less than the +0.2% consensus and cooling from the +0.3% pace in October. Personal income and spending also came in slightly lower than expected in the month.
On a year-over-year basis, core PCE increased 2.8%, just under the 2.9% consensus, and running at the same pace as in October.
PCE Price Index, which includes food and energy, also ticked up 0.1% M/M vs. +0.2% consensus and +0.2% prior.
That measure translated to a 2.4% Y/Y increase, less than the +2.5% consensus, but slightly hotter than the 2.3% rise in October.
Personal income: +0.3% M/M vs. +0.4% expected and +0.6% prior.
Personal outlays: +0.4% M/M vs. +0.5% consensus and +0.4% prior.
At the time of writing, premarket S&P 500 Futures are down 0.6% after being down 1.5% overnight after the second stop-gap funding bill failed miserably to get through the House of Representatives.