Investing.com -- Overall U.S. inflation cooled as expected in June, adding to expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will start cutting interest rates in September.
According to data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index slipped to 2.5% in June, from 2.6% the prior month. Economists had expected the figure to climb to 2.5%.
Stripping out volatile items like food and fuel, the year-on-year "core" gauge, widely known as the Fed's preferred gauge of inflation, remained at 2.6%, unchanged from the May figure. It was seen slowing to 2.5%.
Month-on-month, the headline figures came in at 0.1%, while the "core" monthly release rose 0.2%, both as expected.
While U.S. gross domestic product data, released earlier this week, showed healthy growth in the second quarter of the year, the widely-watched consumer price index fell in June for the first time in four years.
That cooler-than-expected report set off a rotation in equities and cemented market expectations that the Fed is primed to cut rates in September, ratcheting down interest rates from more than two-decade highs.