Inflation ran red hot in August, according to the Commerce Department, with the headline Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index surging 4.3 percent over the year to a level not seen since 1991. Meanwhile, the core PCE inflation index, which excludes the volatile categories of food and energy and is the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, rose in the year through August at 3.6 percent, the Commerce Department announced on Oct. 1. August’s 3.6 percent annual core PCE growth matched the June and July figure, which was the highest level in 30 years. That’s a rate of inflation well above the Fed’s 2 percent target, pressuring policymakers as they consider when to roll back some of the stimulus measures that helped lift the economy out of the pandemic lows but now appear increasingly out of kilter with rising prices. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday spoke of “tension” between inflation …