United States: Core Inflation Remains Resilient

The U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.4% in February after gaining 0.5% in January and 0.1% in December. Excluding food and energy, the core CPI rose 0.5% in February after two consecutive increases of 0.4%. This was the largest monthly increase in the core CPI since last September. The annual variation in the total CPI continued to slow, falling from 6.4% to 6.0%. Core inflation also declined from 5.6% to 5.5%. Overall inflation continues to slow, but price growth in the very short term remains relatively high, especially for services. As a result, the Federal Reserve is expected to continue tightening its monetary policy. However, it now needs to take into account the uncertainty created by the recent news about the fragility of certain segments of the U.S. financial sector.