U.S. Economists Expect February's CPI To Rise 6%

The Bureau of Labor Statistics will release its February consumer price index on Tuesday.

Photo Insert: Core CPI, excluding volatile food and energy prices, is expected to rise 5.5%.

Economics expect the CPI will have increased 6% year over year, compared with 6.4% in January. Core CPI, excluding volatile food and energy prices, is expected to rise 5.5%, Janet Cho reported for Barron’s Daily.

The US added 311,000 nonfarm jobs in February, more than the 215,000 economists surveyed by FactSet expected, but down from January’s revised 504,000 jobs. The unemployment rate of 3.6% was higher than expected, signaling that more people are job hunting.

The job market is still too hot, said Eric Rosengren, who served as president of the Boston Fed from 2007 to 2021. But wage growth moderated, with average hourly earnings for private-sector workers rising 4.6% over the last 12 months through February.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told Congress “no decision has been made” on whether to raise the benchmark federal funds rate by a quarter point or a half point at the meeting in March, saying the consumer price index and other inflation data could influence the decision.

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