Analysis: Next Friday's PCE data release will provide clues on whether the Fed has achieved its inflation target

Odaily News Shortly before the CPI report was released, U.S. Treasury Secretary Besant predicted that inflation "could return to near the Fed's 2% target by the middle of this year." He was likely referring to the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index. Due to the government shutdown, the latest available data is the core PCE inflation rate from November last year, which was 2.8%. The core PCE price index for December is scheduled for release on February 20, with current forecasts predicting core inflation at 2.8%. Data for January will take some time to become available. Historically, the average increase in CPI has typically been about 0.5 percentage points higher than that of PCE. (Jin10)