NEW YORK, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- Core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index, a closely followed U.S. inflation gauge, continued to hover at a level close to 3 percent in September, the Bureau of Economic Analysis of the U.S. Commerce Department said Friday.
The year-on-year growth of the PCE price index for September accelerated to 2.8 percent from 2.7 percent in August, according to the latest data.
Meanwhile, the core PCE price index, which excludes food and energy, also posted a 2.8 percent year-on-year growth in September, lower than 2.9 percent in the previous month.
Notably, PCE only registered a month-on-month expansion of 0.3 percent in September, lower than 0.5 percent in the previous three months.
"We expect PCE inflation to remain around 3 percent for most of next year," said Aditya Bhave, managing director and senior U.S. economist at Bank of America Securities.
Speaking at a media roundtable on Tuesday, Bhave said even by the end of next year, when some of the tariff effects will be rolling off, the year-over-year inflation rate would land at around 2.8 percent.
The costs of tariffs will eventually see a pass-through to consumers, although retailers are strategic and careful in doing so, according to Bhave.
The personal income and outlays report for September, originally scheduled to be released on Oct. 31, was delayed for more than a month due to the partial shutdown of the federal government.
The Federal Reserve is widely expected to cut benchmark interest rates again on Dec. 10 despite persistent inflation pressures as the U.S. labor market saw material weakness in recent months. ■
