Agency: Core PCE inflation expected to remain stable in December

With the release of CPI and PPI data this week, economists can now forecast December's all-important core PCE inflation data - the Fed's preferred measure of inflation - with great accuracy. The forecasts that keep coming in this morning suggest that December's core PCE price gains will be less than 0.2%: earlier forecasts range from Morgan Stanley's 0.16% to Pantheon Macro's 0.19%. Both of these numbers would keep core PCE inflation at an annualized rate of 2.8%, unchanged from November. But the three- and six-month trends will be headed in the right direction. Sam Tombs, analyst at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said: "We continue to believe core PCE inflation will decline modestly over the next two months, providing support for the FOMC to ease policy at its end-March meeting."