Underlying inflation pressures eased in October compared to the prior month, according to a report released on Monday by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Reuters reported. The bank said that its Multivariate Core Trend (MCT) inflation reading for October stood at 2.6%, from September’s 2.88%. The higher level of the MCT relative to its pre-pandemic average "is in large part due to the sector-specific trends in housing and services ex-housing," the bank said. The NY Fed MCT index is designed to measure inflation persistence and how broadly price pressures are changing. The report arrives as Fed officials are approaching their final policy meeting of the year, one in which they are broadly expected to keep their overnight interest rate target steady at between 5.25% and 5.5%. The current level of the central bank's rate target appears to be its peak. Over recent weeks, a wide range of Fed officials have signaled that with inflation pressures well off their pandemic peak, they have the space to take in new data to see whether they need to increase rates again, or keep them steady.
