Inflation ticked higher in February as consumer spending soared

[mystery-ak]

 Inflation ticked higher in February as consumer spending soared
by Taylor Giorno - 03/29/24 8:37 AM ET

Inflation ticked up in February, according to new federal data released Friday.

The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred way to measure inflation, rose 0.3 percent in February. The annual inflation rate rose to 2.5 percent in February, up 0.1 percentage points from January.

“Core” inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, clocked in at 0.3 percent in February after rising 0.4 percent in January. Year-over-year, core inflation held steady at 2.8 percent from January.

“Price growth continues to slow, slowly. It’s a little like watching a kid do a long-distance run. From the unsustainable all-out sprint we witnessed peaking in mid-2022, to the sputtering tempos we’re witnessing now. Occasionally, there’s a brief quickening, but overall we’re losing steam,” said Elizabeth Renter, a data analyst at NerdWallet.

The slight February increase in inflation was in line with economist forecasts, but a 0.8 percent jump in consumer spending last month far exceeded expert projections. Analysts expected consumer spending to rise 0.3 percent in February.

When adjusting for inflation, spending rose 0.4 percent in February after dipping 0.2 percent in January.

Personal incomes rose in lockstep with inflation at 0.3 percent after a surprise 1-percent jump in January, which was more than double what economists had projected.

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https://thehill.com/business/4562405-inflation-ticker-higher-in-february-as-consumer-spending-soared/

[Hoodat]

If government keeps doing the thing that causes inflation, we will have inflation.

[HikerGuy83]

Biden and his morons will tout the spending.

They really don't care that the real people getting hurt here are the working poor. 

Grocery prices, with the exception of eggs, have gone up 20% and have not made any progrress coming down.

Great that some of us have money to spend like this. 

But the most vulnerable are being really hurt by his moronic policies.

[catfish1957]

Many people fail to realize that inflation is  a permanent blight that incrementially erodes every financial aspect of our lives.  You never recover those losses.

Proof?  The last calendar year this nation had negative inflation rate?  1954

[GtHawk]

Is it that consumer spending soared or just that prices soared? I know I haven't been buying much of anything in the way of consumer goods for a long time............Uh, guns, gun parts, ammo and reloading supplies aren't consumer goods, right? I always considered the health and safety essentials.

[Hoodat]

Is it that consumer spending soared or just that prices soared?

It is that the supply of dollars has soared.

[LMAO]

Biden and his morons will tout the spending.

They really don't care that the real people getting hurt here are the working poor. 

Grocery prices, with the exception of eggs, have gone up 20% and have not made any progrress coming down.

Great that some of us have money to spend like this. 

But the most vulnerable are being really hurt by his moronic policies.

They either really don’t care that the working poor are getting hit or they really believe things are getting better for those folks and they just haven’t realized yet how wonderful things are under Biden

[LMAO]

If government keeps doing the thing that causes inflation, we will have inflation.

Yup

[Smokin Joe]

Is it that consumer spending soared or just that prices soared?

Gasoline is up here $0.70/gallon in the last two months (25% increase).
Fuel costs go up, everything goes up.