Contrary to What You Read in the Washington Post, Core Inflation Has Not Ticked Up

The pressure for a Fed rate hike is building as consumer spending in April came in somewhat higher than expected. Other data remain mixed, with investment notably weak.

The Washington Post ran an article that seemed to support the rate hike agenda. It told readers that the Fed's key measure of inflation, the core personal consumption expenditure deflator, had ticked up in recent months. This is not true.

If we take the measure as being the year over year change, this was just 1.6 percent fro...