On Wednesday, the US Department of Commerce released data from the Core Personal Consumption Expenditures Index, which rose by 0.2% last July, in line with expectations.
The core inflation index, which is the preferred inflation measure of the Federal Reserve, rose to a high of 2%, a figure higher than the previous reading in June, of 1.9%.
It should be noted that this is the first time to reach 2% since 2012, and the main inflation rose last month by 0.1%, in line with expectations. As for the annual rate, inflation pressures have doubled by 2.3%.
In addition to rising inflationary pressures, personal spending rose by 0.4% last month, in line with expectations, while personal income rose 0.3%, meeting expectations.
Analysts say recent economic data in the US are strong and support the Federal Reserve’s expectations for further economic growth in the second half of this year. Real consumption is on track to make gains of between 3% and 3.5% per annualized in the third quarter, and there are expectations that GDP will expand at a similar rate.
Gold prices were negative prior to the release of the data. Gold futures for December were trading at $1.211.90 an ounce, up 0.03% during the day.
On a separate note in the US economic data, the US Labor Department released on Thursday the US Jobless Claims figure, which rose by about 3,000 to reach 213,000 in the week ending Saturday, which was not in line with market expectations. Forecasts from many economic institutions indicated initial claims ranging from 212,000 to 214,000.
The four-week moving average for new claims, often seen as a more reliable measure of the labor market, has fallen from a week to a week basis around 1,500, to 212,250. The government declared that continuing jobless claims and the number of people already receiving benefits who reported a one-week delay fell by 20,000 to 1,708,000 seasonally adjusted during the week ending August 18.
Traders are looking closely at job data to gauge the impact of the FOMC on monetary policy.
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