Recent Higher Inflation Numbers Haven’t ‘Really Changed the Overall Story’

Inflation has been running hotter recently, with the first two months of data for this year showing little progress in bringing price growth back to the Federal Reserve’s 2% target.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday that the January and February consumer price index and the January personal consumption expenditures price index were “quite high, but there’s reason to think that, at least for the first month of the year, that “seasonal effects” were at play.

“We don’t want to be completely dismissive of it,” Powell said. “I always try to be careful about dismissing data that we don’t like—so you need to check yourself on that.”

The February number was higher than expectations, but Powell said that when taking the two reports together, they “haven’t really changed the overall story,” which is that of inflation moving down graduall, toward 2%, albeit on a “sometimes bumpy road.”

“I also don’t think that those readings added to any one’s confidence,” Powell added.