Key inflation indicator-up 3.5% year over year in June

August 02, 2021: -In June, an inflation indicator that the Federal Reserve uses as its crucial guide increase 3.5%, a sharp acceleration that was nonetheless right around Wall Street expectations, reported by the Commerce Department on Friday.

The personal consumption expenditures price index, excluding food and energy, was expected to increase 3.6% when the economy of the U.S. has seen its highest inflation pressures in over a decade.

That gain was ahead of the 3.4% pay increase and represented the most significant move from July 1991.

The central bank has targetted 2% as its desired inflation goal, though officials are willing to tolerate high levels of temporarily as the economy wants to get back to full employment. They expect the inflation surge to be transitory. It has come mainly from industries sensitive to the economic reopening and supply chain bottlenecks and other issues likely to fade, Fed officials said.

The core PCE index surged 0.4% month by month, below the 0.6% Dow Jones estimate, which indicates that inflationary pressures may be starting to ebb at least a bit.

However, personal income and spending numbers were better than expectations as consumers flush with stimulus cash kept the economic rebound going.

Income increased 0.1%, much more than the estimate for a 0.2% decline while spending increased 1% against a 0.7% forecast.

Employment inflation also continued to increase.

Compensation costs rose 0.7% for the three months ending in June while wages and salaries were up 0.9%. For the year, compensation costs rise 2.9%, up from 2.7% a year earlier, according to a separate report on Friday from the Labor Department.

The PCE index, which includes food and energy, increased 4% from a year earlier on the price inflation front. Its most significant increase since July 2008, just before the worst of the financial crisis hit. Energy prices increase 24.2%, and food moved 0.9% higher.