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This story about the September 2026 PCE inflation report will be updated with further details.
The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge rose further away from the central bank’s target in September as consumers face price pressures.
The Commerce Department on Thursday reported that the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index rose 0.5% on a monthly basis in September and was up 3.6% from a year ago. Both figures were in line with the expectations of economists polled by LSEG.
Core PCE, which excludes volatile measurements of food and energy prices, was up 0.3% on a monthly basis and 3.1% year over year. Those figures were both in line with economists’ expectations.
Federal Reserve policymakers are focused on the PCE headline figure as they try to bring inflation back to their long-run target of 2%, though they view core data as a better indicator of inflation.
While inflation moved further away from the Fed’s 2% target, the Commerce Department also released the advance estimate for third quarter gross domestic product (GDP) which grew more than expected.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis estimated that third quarter GDP was 3.4%, above the 3.2% estimate of economists polled by LSEG. The BEA will release two subsequent revisions of the Q3 GDP data.
