Inflation Climbed In March But Showed Signs Of Cooling
Inflation continued its upward march last month but showed signs of cooling, according to new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The Consumer Price Index rose 5% YOY in March, down from 6% in February. Month-over-month, inflation was up 0.1% on a seasonally adjusted basis, compared to 0.4% in February.
The core index, which measures everything but volatile food and fuel costs, ticked up by 0.1% to 5.6% YOY. Though the increase is slight, it’s the first YOY acceleration since September.
“This is obviously a short-term setback for the Fed. However, inflation was never expected to decelerate in a straight line,” Tiffany Wilding, managing director and North American economist at PIMCO, wrote in a note. “[N]otwithstanding this report we…