U.S. PCE Inflation Surges 0.3%, More Interest Rate Hikes Ahead?

The Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index, which is used to calculate inflation in the United States, showed an increase of 0.3% in February. This comes following the announcement released by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. The number came in lower than 0.4% which was being anticipated by market participants.

Inflation Rises 0.3% In February

During the past 12 months, the Core PCE climbed by 4.6%, marking a small slowdown from the level seen in January. The headline PCE data grew by 0.3% monthly and 5% annually in February, compared to 0.6% and 5.3% respectively in January. The monthly data showed that energy prices fell by 0.4% while food prices grew by 0.2%, which was a milder set of numbers than what was anticipated. Prices of goods climbed by 0.2%, whereas, prices of services increased by 0.3%.

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Despite some sectors experiencing lower levels of inflation, other regions continue to be adversely affected by the issue. The prices associated with housing, in particular, have skyrocketed. But, according to the Federal Reserve, the officials are presently looking past that as they anticipate a slowdown in rent spikes throughout the course of the year.

Nonetheless, officials have stated that they are still committed to bringing down prices in midst of the present banking crisis in the country and expect inflation to pursue well above the Fed’s 2% objective into 2024.

Market Reaction

Following the release of the data, stock market futures remained higher, while rates on longer-term Treasury securities fell. Futures contracts on the S&P 500 increased by 0.4%, and that on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 134 points, which translates to a gain of 0.4%. The Nasdaq-100 futures on the other hand rose by 0.3% at the time of writing.

The crypto market also witnessed a marginal uptick in response to the inflation report. The price of Bitcoin (BTC) experienced an increase of 1% in the past one hour and is currently exchanging hands at $28,143. Crypto’s favorite and the reigning altcoin king, Ethereum (ETH), also rose by 0.88% and is trading close to the $1,800 range.

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