US services prices excluding housing and energy, a category closely monitored by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, just notched its smallest annual advance in 15 months, bolstering the case for a pause in interest-rate increases this week.
(Bloomberg) — US services prices excluding housing and energy, a category closely monitored by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, just notched its smallest annual advance in 15 months, bolstering the case for a pause in interest-rate increases this week.
The gauge rose 4.6% in the 12 months through May, according to Bloomberg calculations based on Bureau of Labor Statistics data published Tuesday.
Fed officials will probably take the data into account at this week’s policy meeting in deciding whether or not to put their 15-month tightening campaign on pause.
Read More: US Inflation Slows, Giving Room for Fed to Pause Rate Hikes
At their last meeting in May, “participants emphasized that core nonhousing services inflation had shown few signs of slowing in the past few months,” and “some participants remarked that a further easing in labor market conditions would be needed to help bring down inflation in this component,” according to minutes of the meeting.
On a monthly basis, core services prices excluding housing and energy rose 0.24%, following a 0.11% increase in April. A similar gauge that also excludes medical care services, which have been affected in recent months by changes in health-insurer profits, rose 0.34% in May following a 0.20% increase in April.
That calculation is more consistent with the inflation gauge the Fed officially targets, which is based on the prices of personal consumption expenditures and aren’t affected by health-insurer margins.
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