The central bank’s preferred inflation measure, released on Friday, climbed 2.5 percent in January from a year earlier, slightly lower than the previous reading of 2.6 percent but still well above the Fed’s 2 percent target. On a monthly basis, prices increased 0.3 percent, in line with December’s pace.

Inflation in the Federal Reserve’s preferred price gauge eased in January after making steady increases throughout the fall. The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index increased by

The year-over-year gain in the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation was in line with economists’ expectations and slowed from December’s 2.6% annual jump. The monthly readin

Yet data released Friday by the Commerce Department also showed that Americans cut their spending last month 0.2% in January from the previous month, likely in part because of unseasonably cold weather. Still, the drop may raise alarms about whether Americans are growing more cautious amid widespread uncertainty about the economic outlook.

Photo: U.S. consumers cut back sharply on spending last month, the most since February 2021, even as inflation declined, though stiff tariffs threatened by the White House could disrupt that progress.

U.S. consumer spending unexpectedly fell in January, but a pick up in inflation could provide cover for the Federal Reserve to delay cutting interest rates for some time. Consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.

Marc Filippino Good morning from the Financial Times. Today is Friday, February 28th and this is your FT News Briefing. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer visited the White House and the pound is headed toward its best run in months. Plus, the AI Start-Up DeepSeek is pretty much everywhere you look in China these days.

The White House on Thursday walked back President Donald Trump's claim the day before that the Environmental Protection Agency plans to cut 65% of its workforce, saying that the environmental regulator plans to cut its spending by 65%.

President Donald Trump recently said the Environmental Protection Agency would cut 65% of jobs as part of cuts, but the White House has since clarified that he was referring to spending – not jobs. At his first Cabinet meeting Wednesday,