Description
The United States Consumer Price Index (CPI) is calculated and published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), measuring the changes in prices of goods and services purchased by consumers over time. The Core CPI excludes the volatile prices of food and energy items, providing a more stable measure of inflation.
As the most widely used measure of inflation, the Federal Reserve has set a target of 2% inflation to ensure economic growth while allowing the market to assess whether the economy is overheating and to evaluate the appropriateness of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy.
Note: The difference between Seasonally Adjusted (SA) and Not Seasonally Adjusted (NSA) data lies in the fact that SA data is adjusted to eliminate the effects of seasonal patterns, providing a clearer view of long-term trends and underlying economic conditions.