Federal Reserve policy makers are still in limbo when it comes to the need for another rate hike, with Thursday's inflation data doing little to add clarity, said economists at Evercore ISI led by Fed-watcher Krishna Guha, in a note. 'The September CPI report is not a good one for the Fed, but will keep the U.S.
There was nothing in the data that 'looks like a forcing device and we continue to think there is very little likelihood of a hike in November,' the economists wrote. They see the report adding some 'risk premium' to the December Fed meeting, but remain confident the trend lower in the personal-consumption expenditure, or PCE, measure of inflation --- the Fed's preferred measure --- will continue.