Fed’s favored inflation gauge remained elevated in April

This story about the April 2026 PCE inflation is developing and will be updated with more details.

The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge remained stubbornly high in April as consumers continued to face elevated price growth.

The Commerce Department on Thursday reported that the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index rose 0.4% on a monthly basis in April and is up 3.8% from a year ago. The monthly figures were slightly cooler than the 0.5% increase expected by economists polled by LSEG, while the annual figure was in line with expectations.

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Core PCE, which excludes volatile measurements of food and energy prices, was up 0.2% from a month ago and increased 3.3% year over year. The monthly figure was cooler than the 0.3% increase estimated by the LSEG poll, while the annual figure was in line with 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. Compared with March’s annual readings, headline PCE rose from 3.5% to 3.8%, while core PCE increased from 3.2% to 3.3%.