Does the Federal Reserve use core or headline inflation to set rates?

Most central banks reference core or an equivalent 'underlying' measure as the primary policy guide, while also monitoring headline CPI for second-round effects.

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Core Inflation (USD)

CPI excluding volatile items like food and energy.

Latest reading: 2.2 %YoY · Last updated: 2016-05-31 · Source: FRED (BLS)

Category: Economy

API Endpoint

/api/v1/announcements/usd/core_inflation

Use the production OpenAPI schema for the authoritative REST route metadata.

https://fxmacrodata.com/api/openapi.json

Browse the full endpoint reference

Compare Core Inflation across all supported currencies →

Optional Indicator Availability (USD)

Optional indicators use per-currency fetcher capability checks and may be temporarily hidden while source coverage is being remediated.

foreign_reserves

Available

cb_assets

Available

inflation_mom

Available

About Core Inflation (USD)

Core inflation for United States excludes volatile food and energy prices from the consumer price basket, providing a cleaner measure of underlying price dynamics. The Federal Reserve places significant weight on this series when calibrating interest rate decisions.

Why FX traders watch it

Food and energy prices are subject to supply shocks that central banks cannot easily influence. Core inflation removes this noise and better reflects whether domestic demand and wage pressures are pushing prices sustainably higher.

How to interpret the data

Persistent core inflation above target gives the Federal Reserve justification to hold rates high or continue hiking, supporting the usd. Core inflation trending lower is the clearest signal that rate cuts may be approaching.

Historical Core Inflation (USD)

Source: FRED (BLS) · Monthly · %YoY

Data provided by FXMacroData via the /api/v1/announcements/usd/core_inflation endpoint. For access, see pricing.

Data Source

Primary Source

FRED (BLS)

Official Series ID

CPILFESL

External Link

View Official Data Page

Data Format and Properties

Data Frequency

Monthly

Unit of Measure

%YoY

JSON Response Structure

The endpoint returns a chronological list of observations in JSON format.

{
    "currency": "USD",
    "indicator": "core_inflation",
    "has_official_forecast": false,
    "start_date": "2023-01-01",
    "end_date": "2023-12-31",
    "data": [
        {
            "date": "2024-07-01",
            "val": 4.2,
            "announcement_datetime": 1722456000
        }
    ]
}

Request Parameters & Usage

Parameter	Required	Format	Description
`start_date`	NO	`YYYY-MM-DD`	Optional lower bound for the requested history.
`end_date`	NO	`YYYY-MM-DD`	Optional upper bound. Defaults to the current date.
`api_key`	CONDITIONAL	`string`	Required for non-USD announcement requests. USD announcement requests are public without an API key.

Example Usage

To retrieve Core Inflation data for USD from 2023:

GET https://fxmacrodata.com/api/v1/announcements/usd/core_inflation?start_date=2023-01-01&end_date=2023-12-31

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the Federal Reserve use core or headline inflation to set rates?: Most central banks reference core or an equivalent 'underlying' measure as the primary policy guide, while also monitoring headline CPI for second-round effects.