Consumer Level Inflation Tame in February. Emergency Jobless Benefits Hit Record High
ByPosted To: MBS Commentary
Good Morning. Inflation data has hit screens. The Consumer Price Index was UNCHANGED in February (+0.0018)…this is cooler than consensus forecasts which called for a 0.1% gain. The CORE CPI print, which strips out food and energy, rose 0.1% in February—on the screws. Year over year, the consumer price index is up 2.1%, slightly below economist expectations for a read of +2.3%. Ex-food and energy, consumer price levels were up 1.3% YoY. GASOLINE was a big contributor to weakness…don't expect that category to be so helpful next month—gas prices have been on the rise lately. Housing prices were all unchanged. Overall, another round of tame inflation data. Jobless Claims data was also released. New claims fell by 5,000 to 457,000 in the week ending March 13. This is slightly worse than…(read more)