FILE - Shoppers consider appliances on display in a Costco warehouse March 6, 2024, in Sheridan, Colo. On Friday, May 31, 2024, the Commerce Department issues its report on consumer spending for April.
Measured from a year earlier, such so-called “core” prices climbed 2.8% in April, the same as in March. The Fed tends to favor the inflation gauge that the government issued Friday — the personal consumption expenditures price index — over the better-known consumer price index. The PCE index tries to account for changes in how people shop when inflation jumps. It can capture, for example, when consumers switch from pricier national brands to cheaper store brands.
Fed officials have said they would need to see at least several mild inflation reports before they would be comfortable cutting their benchmark interest rate.