Inflation accelerated sharply and more than expected in January to three times the pace logged in the prior month, suggesting the Federal Reserve’s fight to quell price pressures will be, in the words of one market analyst, “long and bumpy.”
Prices rose by 0.6 percent month-over-month in January, as measured by the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) measure, released on Feb. 24 by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).
That pace of inflation is three times higher than last month’s 0.2 percent rate and above Wall Street estimates of 0.5 percent.
In annual terms, inflation in January came in at 5.4 percent, faster than last month’s 5.3 percent pace and well above market forecasts for 4.9 percent….