The Fed is on track to hike in December given strong inflation

Still-high core inflation points to the Fed resuming raising rates in December.
Kieran Davies

Coolabah Capital

After holding steady ahead of next week’s mid-term elections, the Fed should resume raising rates in December given still-high core inflation, upside inflation risks, and no estimated slack in the labour market. A strong gain in the monthly core PCE deflator in September – which is the Fed’s preferred measure of core inflation – supports this view.

The core PCE deflator matched market expectations, up another 0.3% in September (the monthly gain in August initially rounded down to 0.2% and now rounds up to 0.3%). Annual inflation was 3.1% and has ranged between 2.9-3.1% since December. An alternative indicator of core inflation belonging to the class of measures previously favoured by Fed Chair Warsh, namely the trimmed mean PCE deflator, rose by 0.2% for the third month in a row and is up 2.3% over the past year. 

  • Core goods prices rose by 0.2% and are 2.0% higher than a year ago. Tariff effects on goods prices are fading, but there is a boost from the AI boom and likely some impact from both high and volatile energy prices and global supply chain disruptions. 

  • Core services prices increased by 0.4% in September (also 0.4% excluding housing) and are 3.5% higher than a year ago (3.6% excluding housing). 

  • On CCI's estimation, tech prices are up 6% over the past year, adding 0.3pp to annual core inflation, contrasting with the pre-COVID experience when falling tech prices would usually subtract about 0.2pp from annual inflation.  


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Kieran Davies
Chief Macro Strategist
Coolabah Capital

Based in Sydney, Kieran Davies is Chief Macro Strategist at Coolabah Capital Investments, an asset manager with 65 executives and over $20 billion in fixed-income strategies. Kieran is responsible for macroeconomic research and investment...

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