- At least 10 dead in Florida after Hurricane Milton spawns tornadoes
- Internet Archive reels from 'catastrophic' cyberattack, data breach
- Wall Street stocks retreat from records on US inflation data
- Israel strikes central Beirut, killing 22
- Solar storm could impact US hurricane recovery efforts: agency
- Delta eyes Election Day travel pullback as profits climb
- Florida battered by hurricane, floods but spared 'worst-case scenario'
- UK's William and Kate in first joint public engagement since cancer treatment
- Over 200 women in legal talks with Harrods over Fayed abuse claims
- A very stiff breeze: BBC says sorry for 20,000 kph wind forecast
- Musk finally unveiling his long-promised robotaxi
- London's Frieze art fair goes potty for ceramics
- US, Europe stocks fall on US inflation data
- US consumer inflation eases to 2.4% in September
- Hurricane Milton tornadoes kill four in Florida amid rescue efforts
- South Korea's Han Kang wins literature Nobel
- Ikea posts fall in annual sales after lowering prices
- Stock markets diverge, oil gains after China rebounds
- World can't 'waste time' trading climate change blame: COP29 hosts
- South Korean same-sex couples make push for marriage equality
- Mumbai declares day of mourning for Indian industrialist Ratan Tata
- 7-Eleven owner restructures to fight takeover
- Sri Lanka recovering faster than expected: World Bank
- Hong Kong, Shanghai rally as most markets track Wall St record
- Uniqlo owner reports record annual earnings
- Hong Kong, Shanghai rally as markets track Wall St record
- Indonesia biomass drive threatens key forests: report
- Mumbai mourns Indian industrialist Ratan Tata
- China opens $71 bn 'swap facility' to boost markets
- Asian markets track Wall St record as Hong Kong, Shanghai stabilise
- 'Denying my potential': women at Japan's top university call out gender imbalance
- China's central bank says opens up $70.6 bn in liquidity to boost market
- Youth facing unprecedented wave of violence, UN envoy warns
- 'A casino in every kitchen': Brazil's online gambling craze
- Nobel chemistry winner sees engineered proteins solving tough problems
- Discord seen as online home for renegades
- US forecasts severe solar storm starting Thursday
- Ratan Tata: Indian mogul who built a global powerhouse
- One dead as storm Kirk tears through Spain, Portugal, France
- Indian business titan Ratan Tata dead at 86
- Fed minutes highlight divisions over rate cut decision
- Steve McQueen debuts new WWII film at London festival
- Nobel winners hope protein work will spur 'incredible' breakthroughs
- What are proteins again? Nobel-winning chemistry explained
- AI steps into science limelight with Nobel wins
- Overshooting 1.5C risks 'irreversible' climate impact: study
- Demis Hassabis, from chess prodigy to Nobel-winning AI pioneer
- Global stocks diverge as Chinese shares tumble
- Time runs out in Florida to flee Hurricane Milton
- Chad issues warning ahead of more devastating floods
Fed's preferred inflation gauge up as spending bounces
A key indicator of US inflation rose in January, according to government data released Friday, while spending bounced after retail sales were boosted by good weather.
The stronger-than-expected numbers came despite aggressive efforts by the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates and cool the world's biggest economy, with an aim of tamping down surging inflation.
While some sectors like housing have slumped, consumption has remained resilient and some areas of inflation sticky, potentially pointing to more rate hikes in the pipeline.
The Fed's preferred gauge of inflation, the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, rose 5.4 percent last month from January 2022, while consumption surged 1.8 percent from a month prior, according to Commerce Department data.
From December to January, the PCE price index jumped 0.6 percent, the biggest rise since mid-2022.
The increase came as prices for goods and services both rose compared with the same period a year ago.
Excluding the volatile food and energy segments, the PCE price index still rose 0.6 percent from the preceding month.
The central bank focuses on the PCE price index as it reflects actual consumer spending, including shifts to less expensive items, unlike the more well-known consumer price index.
Meanwhile, personal income rose as well from December to January, "reflecting private wages and salaries in both services-producing industries and goods-producing industries," said the Commerce Department.
There has been a "reversal in progress last month," in the inflation gauge, Rubeela Farooqi of High Frequency Economics.
"Reaccelerating price pressures coupled with a still-strong labor market that is restoring incomes and is supporting demand will keep the Fed on track to hike rates further over coming meetings, to a peak rate that could be higher than officials expected in December," she added.
But Ian Shepherdson of Pantheon Macroeconomics said in a recent note that "weather boosts to spending usually are one-time factors."
In the bigger picture, drivers of the inflation surge, including global food and energy prices as well as a supply chain crisis, are "now reversing, at varying rates," he said.
This suggests "downward pressure on inflation for the foreseeable future," Shepherdson added.
M.P.Jacobs--CPN