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New Inflation Data Shows Prices Remain Stubbornly High



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The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge remained elevated in new data released on Friday, further evidence that the central bank is contending with a stubborn problem as it tries to choke off the worst inflation in four decades.The Personal Consumption Expenditures inflation measure, which is produced by the Commerce Department and is the measure the Fed officially targets as it tries to achieve 2 percent annual inflation, climbed by 6.2 percent in the year through August. While that was a slowdown from 6.4 percent in July, it was higher than the 6 percent economists in a Bloomberg survey had expected.The details of the report were even more concerning. While price increases have been moderating somewhat on an overall basis, that is partly because gas prices have been declining. After stripping out volatile food and fuel prices to get a sense of underlying inflationary pressur …

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