by Vince Golle
BNN Bloomberg
(Bloomberg) — US consumer-price data in the coming week, arriving on the heels of surprisingly strong jobs numbers, is projected to show a glacial slowdown in underlying inflation that explains the Federal Reserve’s cautious approach to lowering interest rates.
The March core consumer price index, a measure of underlying inflation that excludes food and fuel, is seen rising 0.3% from a month earlier after a 0.4% advance in February. Wednesday’s report is expected to show a similar increase in the overall CPI.
The core price gauge is projected to have climbed 3.7% from a year ago, which would mark the smallest gain since April 2021. While the annual figure is well below the 6.6% peak reached in 2022, progress more recently has been uneven.