Futures firmed after soft August core PCE print
Equity futures firmed after investors digested a cooler-than-expected August inflation report. Core personal-consumption prices rose 0.2 percent monthly and 3.0 percent from a year earlier, the Commerce Department said.
Equity and bond futures got their answer at 8:30 a.m. Eastern: August PCE rose 0.3% month over month and 3.4% from a year earlier, while core PCE rose 0.2% and 3.0%, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Those annual rates undershot the firmer consensus many desks carried into the open.
CNBC and Fox Business matched BEA’s printed figures and noted futures firmed while Treasury yields eased, with October hike odds fading toward a December window. Energy still mattered inside the monthly detail — gasoline jumped — but the core print was the softer surprise versus 0.3%/3.3% consensus sketches.
Final second-quarter GDP was revised up to a 2.2% annualized pace from 1.5% in the companion Commerce report, CNBC said, even as Q2 PCE inflation measures were revised slightly lower. That mix — cooler measured inflation, firmer past growth — leaves rate-sensitive tech and duration still trading the Fed path, not a one-tick open reaction.
BEA, CNBC, Fox Business, and Trading Economics agree on the August headline and core PCE figures.
Whether methodology revisions or true cooling explain the softer annual path — and how September oil feeds the next print — is the live debate into Friday’s jobs report.
Where outlets agree BEA, CNBC, Fox Business, and Trading Economics agree on the August headline and core PCE figures.
Where they differ Whether methodology revisions or true cooling explain the softer annual path — and how September oil feeds the next print — is the live debate into Friday’s jobs report.