PCE Price Index (Personal Consumption Expenditures) is a monthly seasonally adjusted economic Index which measures the changes in prices of consumer goods and services. It is released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis and has two main categories, the durables and non-durables goods or services. The Index shows important information both for the inflation and the personal income spending. Higher than expected or rising readings indicate higher personal consumption spending, which is positive for economic growth, but can also lead to higher rates of inflation. In general higher readings of the Index are positive for the US Dollar showing increased personal consumption which is indicative of a broader optimism by the consumers about the future economic outlook.
The United States PCE Price Index
The United States PCE Price Index latest economic reading for the month of May 2017 was 112.13, lower than the previous reading of 112.20. This 0.1% decline was lower than the forecast of 0.1% gain, but the Index shows a stable trend with little fluctuations in 2017, being consistently above the reading of 112.00 for the first 5 months of the year. PCE Price Index has a long-term average reading of 60.17 for the period of years 1959-2017, and the all-time high reading was 112.26 in February of 2017, while the all-time low reading was 17.12 in January of 1959. The change from one year ago is +1.44%, reflecting higher personal consumption spending. The Index has a base value of 100 set in 2009, and shows a 5-year uptrend.
